News From The Trumpet World
2013-1st International Trumpet Conference in Lodz, Poland
The 1st International Trumpet Conference in Lodz, Poland was held from the 22nd to 25th October, 2013. The extensive program included lectures, master classes and concerts.

During breaks the participants had a chance to get acquainted with a wide range of instruments and accessories displayed by exhibitors. Every morning there were individual classes in solo playing, orchestral studies, technique mastering, or period trumpet held by Professor Richard Stoelzel (USA), Professor Jose Chafer Mompo (Spain), Matthias Kamps (Germany), Professor Igor Cecocho (Poland), and Sławomir Cichor, Ph.D. (Poland). In the afternoon the participants attended lectures and took part in masterclasses.

Igor Cecocho and Hab Piotr Wojtasik delivered lectures on October 22. In Cecocho’s presentation on trumpet articulation, he discussed and demonstrated different types of articulation and how they contribute to sound. Wojtasik’s presented the rudiments of jazz improvisation. That evening, the new concert hall of the Academy of Music in Lodz hosted the first concert of the conference. Richard Stoelzel (USA) and Slawomir Cichor (Poland), and pianist Marta Macierzyńska performed Erik Morales’ Concerto for Two Trumpets. Next, Maciej Labecki, violinist and concertmaster of the Lodz Philharmony, joined Stoelzel and Macierzyńska to perform James Stephenson’s The Storyteller and Till We Meet Again by Dominic Dous. After intermission the three performed Stephenson’s Silent Echoes and Morales’ Passion Dance for violin, trumpet and piano. The final work on the program was Francesco Sartori’s Time to Say Goodbye arranged for two trumpets and piano. After a long applause, the artists gave an encore of Sugar Blues.
Labecki (violin), Macierzyńska (piano), & Stoelzel (trumpet)

On October 23, Michael Münkwitz demonstrated the process of making period instruments and how discussed how modern makers try to recreate the process. Konrad Boninski, PhD, gave a session on the issues connected with Polish trumpet music. Later Richard Stoelzel gave a masterclass and presented J. Thompson’s method as an effective means of mastering trumpeter’s technique. The lecturer showed and commented upon a proper way of implementing buzzing basics exercises as part of everyday practice.

Slawomir Cichor

That evening, several teachers at the Lodz Academy of Music performed a recital with German trumpeter Matthias Kamps. The concert opened with a performance by Sławomir Cichor, the founder and organizer of the conference, performed his composition Cornu, a title that references the instrument played in the Roman empire. Next Sławomir Cichor performed Reverie by Lodz composer Krzysztof Grzeszczak. Konrad Boniński presented two pieces by other Lodz composers: Music for Trumpet and Percussion by Olga Hans and Impression for Flugelhorn by Andrzej Krauze. The artist was accompanied by the Apertus string quartet, Agata Kalińska-Bonińska on the piano and Paweł Stępnik on the guitar. Following Boniński, Igor Cecocho performed Handel’s Suite in D Major. To end the concert, Matthias Kamps performed Leopold Mozart’s Concerto in D and an arrangement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Queen of the Night” from The Magic Flute.
Matthias Kamps

On October 24 Anna Antonina Nogaj, PhD presented Psychological aspects of preparing for performance where she discussed mental training, and methods of overcoming stage fright, among others. She also gave consultations after the lecture. Later Jose Chafer Mompo gave master classes and a lecture based on his own method of everyday practice. Finally Matthias Kamps presented on the history and ethnomusicology of the trumpet. He demonstrated numerous instruments, talked about their musical uses and relation to the modern trumpet. That evening, Jose Chafer Mompo performed a recital that included J. M. Stephenson’s L’esprit de la trompette and Vilapana Les Noces del Manya by Jose R. Pascual. The concert received a standing ovation.

Jose Chafer

In addition to the lectures and master classes, there was an international trumpet competition that took place October 24-25 with seventeen contestants from Spain, Poland, Romania, nd the USA. The jury included Stoelzel, Mompo, Kamps, Cecocho, Boninski, Grzeszczak, and Cichor. Performers played Z516b, a work written for this event by Krzysztof Grzeszczak. The finalists included Dzymitry Kastsiushka (Poland), David Koch (USA), Damian Marat (Poland), Joaquin Enrique Molina Ruiz (Spain), Piotr Nowak (Poland), Krzysztof Sadowski (Poland) and Ruben Zapater Maestre (Spain). First prize (professional B&S trumpet) went to Ruben Zapater Maestre. Joaquin Enrique Molina Ruiz won the second prize (a visit to the B&S atelier and a trumpet case), and Piotr Nowak won 3rd prize (a visit to the B&S atelier and a trumpet case.) Dzymitry Kastsiushka won the special prize (a trumpet case) for the best performance of Z516b.
The final event of the festival was an evening concert that began with a trumpet ensemble performance given by the guest artists of the festival. The group performed Fanfare for Six by Lodz composer Krzysztof Grzeszczak. Then the prizewinners of the competition were announced, and honorary artistic director of the conference Richard Stoelzel and founder and organizer Slawomir Cichor gave speeches.
101 valves

Following that, the prizewinners gave the performances, after which a conference trumpet ensemble, under the direction of Igor Cecocho, gave the premiere performance of Slawomir Cichor’s Music for 101 Valves. The Wratislavia Trumpet Consort, with members Igor Cecocho, Sławomir Cichor, Jakub Waszczeniuk, Paweł Spychała, Seweryn Wróbel, Aleksander Zalewski and Michał Zawadzki presented pieces from different epochs and in different musical styles. Their performance met with public acclaim.