Classical trumpeter Alison Balsom has revealed that the 2025 Last Night of the Proms will be her final performance.
During an interview for BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life, Balsom revealed for the first time that she will be retiring following her upcoming Last Night performance, the closing event of the 2025 BBC Proms.
Balsom will be performing Hummel's Trumpet Concerto on the night, and during the interview she revealed what an appropriate curtain call that would be. 'This chance to play the Hummel at the Last Night of the Proms, it feels very final for me,' she noted. 'I know what I want to say about this piece, but I don't think I'm going to have anything more to say afterwards. About Hummel or about the trumpet... I've followed my particular path, very honestly and with authenticity and I feel that I've come to the end of that path.'
Reflecting on how she first began playing the trumpet 40 years ago, Balsom explained, 'You have to be on the road all the year round. What I've been doing the last couple of years is like doing the Wimbledon final and then… no tennis… and then the French Open final and then… no tennis. It's not sustainable at that level.'
Balsom first performed as a soloist at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms in 2009, having been inspired when watching it on television as a child, and speaks fondly of returning. 'I feel very passionately about this particular concert, particularly because it was that first concert I ever saw on TV, where it made me think, "Look at that, it's the trumpet soloist at the Last Night of the Proms... wow, that's a brilliant thing." I've been given that chance again for the second time, and I just think it's a sign.'
During the interview, Balsom was also frank about the pressures of performing. 'I'm really looking forward to not having that constant thing hanging over me, where it's constantly... Is your lip going to be okay? Are you going to have the courage to just walk out in front of 80 people and 6,000 people in the audience and the orchestra and just proving yourself time and time again.'
Since her debut in 2002, Alison Balsom has recorded 17 studio albums. She's won three Classical Brit Awards, along with an OBE for services to music, and has played with leading orchestras all around the world. Whilst reflecting on her inspirations with Wilson, Balsom described the 'huge cultural influence' that her husband, the Oscar-winning film director Sam Mendes, has had on her life.
When asked about her plans for the future, Balsom revealed: 'I'm not going to be a world-famous anything else I don't think, but I really want to paint. I really want to make things, I really want to draw and learn another instrument… I have these recurring dreams about playing the viola and the cello and the violin… also I just have always wanted to design things. I just want to sit quietly and design things. That's what I was maybe supposed to be, a designer.'
Alison Balsom performs at the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 13 September - broadcast live on BBC Two (first half) and BBC One (second half), then available on BBC iPlayer.
Pics: BBC / Ray Burmiston; BBC; Getty Images
