WHAT could be better than Britain’s hottest trumpet player to herald the £2 million re-birth of York Barbican after seven years in mothballs?

Alison Balsom, nominee for the 2011 Classic BRIT Female Artist Of The Year, will perform Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic next Saturday at the official re-opening concert of the long-dormant leisure centre, now operated by SMG.

“It’s amazing,” she says. “It feels like a massive privilege and I’m sure it’s generating a lot of interest because people have been so wanting it to reopen, and I think it’s nice that it should be a trumpet soloist that announces a new start for the Barbican.”

She is looking forward to performing Haydn’s concerto, one of the most significant works in the classical trumpet repertoire. “It was written in 1796 for a keyed trumpet, played by a Viennese court trumpeter, Anton Weidinger, who was obviously an amazing virtuoso of the time and invented that instrument, and this was the first piece ever composed for it,” says Alison.

“At the time, you couldn’t play the full scale on a trumpet because it didn’t have valves, but then he put the key on it, a bit like a saxophone, and so it was a completely new sound, suddenly hearing the trumpet played with low notes and quietly.

“In the baroque era, everything was written for high notes, and it would have been a revelation to have the heard the notes this new instrument made and so we’re trying to play the concerto like the first time.”

What are the challenges you face, Alison? “Technically, it’s quite straightforward but it’s a great challenge stylistically as it’s perfect music yet it needs flamboyance,” she says.

“I try to do it as Hayden required: it’s all there in the score and so I must play with respect for Haydn’s wishes.”

Alison met up with the BBC Philmarmonic on Tuesday this week in preparation for a series of five concert engagements, where she will play either Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto or the Haydn work each night. “I’ve played with the BBC Phil before, when I’ve done more contemporary pieces, though I’ve never done Haydn’s concerto with them,” she says. “York is the final concert and that always makes it more exciting when you know you’re saying goodbye.”

She has been to York “many times” but her most vivid memory comes from her schooldays. “At nine years old, I did a school trip to York Minster and I remember being so excited at the time that the original manuscript of the Jeremiah Clarke Trumpet Voluntary was kept there – I played it a very young age in 1988/1990,” says Alison, who is now 32.

Her run of concerts will be broken in the middle for her appearance at the 2011 Classic BRIT Awards ceremony on Thursday at the Royal Albert Hall, two days before the Barbican concert.

Already the winner of the BRIT Female Artist of the Year award in 2009, she will perform a work from her Italian Concertos album at the London event. “It’s a fantastic honour – and such a prestigious award – to be nominated with all those wonderful players,” says Alison.

“I’ll play the last movement of Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto off my latest album, which came out last year and was the highest-selling EMI Classics album of 2010.”

She attributes her impressive album sales to her choice of music. “A large part of the battle is choosing the repertoire and playing it in a way that won’t alienate: playing pieces that the public love but never comprising my musical integrity,” says Alison.

“With this album of baroque concertos anyone can enjoy it while having dinner but you can listen at many deeper levels. So I’m happy that I’ve played these concertos, everyone can enjoy them, and the record company is happy too!”

Analysing her popularity, she concludes: “Not many artists straddle Radio 3 and Classic FM and they [EMI] have pushed me both ways.

“I’m a musician’s musician but I also have this bridesmaid complex, wearing the prettiest dress…even though it’s nothing to do with the music.

“In a way it’s a cheap trick on my part, but my career would be over by now if it was just about the dress I’m wearing,” says Alison, who is now dressed by Giorgio Armani.

“People don’t know how to pigeonhole me; what I like to say is I have one foot in the Radio 3 camp and the other in Classic FM without alienating either side.”

She acknowledges she plays “a strange instrument”. “People think, ‘how can she play the trumpet?’, so in a way I can lead them,” she says.

“I started at seven when I had a choice of most of the common instruments, apart from the cello and bassoon, which the school couldn’t afford, and I chose the trumpet straightaway.”

Charles Hutchinson

Did you know?

Alison Balsom performed Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto at the BBC’s Last Night Of The Proms in 2009, watched by a worldwide television audience of 200 million.

Alison Balsom and BBC Philharmonic play York Barbican on May 14 at 7.30pm, when the programme comprises works by Elgar, Haydn and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Tickets cost £15 to £29 on 0844 854 2757or online at yorkbarbican.co.uk

The Classic BRIT Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, May 29 on ITV1 at 10pm.