A musician sets out to play Bach in the highest-altitude performance ever given on land.

Most classical musicians warm up with some scales and perhaps a bit of stretching, but English violinist Hugh Midford decided to scale a 6,189m mountain as a prelude to the Bach Sonatas and Partitas, the pinnacle of the solo violin repertory.

The 27-year-old battled vicious winds, steep cliffs and crevasses and lack of oxygen in an attempt to break the world record for the highest performance given on land. Even more admirable: his grueling 23-day expedition to the top of Island Peak in the Nepalese Himalayas was undertaken for charity.

“I am very much into my outdoor adventures so the idea to climb this mountain came from my desire for a challenge. But there have been many cuts to arts funding in the UK recently and so I wanted to help raise money for a musical charity using my trip,” he explained.

He invited the public to support his endeavour by donating to the Classic FM Foundation, an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of children in the UK living with illness, disability or trauma through music education and music therapy.

Rather than taking his own precious violin,...