Described as “…simply divine” by the Sunday Telegraph, Alison Balsom has been awarded an OBE for Services to Music, and has dedicated her career to broadening the artistic horizons of the trumpet. Balsom performed worldwide with many of the greatest conductors and orchestras of our time, including Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as The Balsom Ensemble, a handpicked group of leading Baroque soloists.

Alison Balsom recorded exclusively with EMI Classics (now Warner Classics) from 2001-2025. Her sixteenth and final album for the label, the highly acclaimed Baroque Concertos with Trevor Pinnock, was released in Autumn 2024. Balsom is a three-time recipient of Germany’s Echo Klassik Award, Gramophone Artist of the Year, and three Classic BRIT awards  (two of which as Female Artist of the Year), and has received a Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Award. During her time as Artistic Director of Cheltenham Music Festival, Alison brought the LSO, CBSO, the AAM, and commissioned twenty new works from leading composers to celebrate the Festival’s 75th anniversary, whilst also founding the contemporary music symposium — Composium. 

Balsom was on the judging panel throughout the BBC Young Musician 2024 competition. As an educator, Balsom held masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, (her Alma Mater, where she is also a fellow and annually awards the Alison Balsom Scholarship), and worldwide at institutions such as the Julliard School of Music, Curtis Institute, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, and Oxford University.

Constantly exploring the boundaries of her instrument, she had numerous concertos written for her by some of the world’s leading composers - including the World Premieres of Sir James MacMillan’s Seraph, Thea Musgrave’s Trumpet Concerto, Joby Talbot’s Desolation Wilderness, Qigang-Chen’s Joie Eternelle and Guy Barker’s Lanterne of Light at the BBC Proms, and in 2024 gave the UK and German Premieres of Wynton Marsalis’ Trumpet Concerto with Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra. Balsom gave her final performance as a soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elim Chan in 2025.