Kevin Eisensmith, Reporter
The next time you are in the mood for some great Chinese food, travel to Manchester, England! The Conference Banquet was held at the Tai Pan Chinese Restaurant. According to John Miller, Director of Brass Studies at RNCM, “An international organization such as ITG deserved an international meal.” Dinner began with corn chowder and assorted appetizers. There was a choice of six different main courses, including Peking Duck, Sweet-and-Sour Pork, BBQ Pork, Beef and Broccoli, and Chicken and noodles.
Following this outstanding meal, President Vincent DiMartino introduced the members seated at the head table. In addition to the officers and Board of Directors, Murray Greig, Conference host, and Philip Biggs, Conference administrator, were recognized. DiMartino also thanked all of the past Presidents who were present, including Steve Jones, Leonard Candelaria, Joyce Davis, Kim Dunnick, and Jim Olcott.
Alan Siebert, Competitions Coordinator, introduced the chairs of the various competitions, who announced the winners for each event.
Wade Weast served as coordinator for the ITG Scholarship Competition. Winners this year included: David Van Kerckhoven, Scott Kiser, Danielle Koplinka-Lehr, Josh Ney, Chris Heldt, Caleb Hudson, Stephanie Richards, and Jennifer Dearden.
The Solo Competition was chaired by Richard Stoelzel. Winners were: 1st place, Brian Shaw; 2nd place Jamie Prophet; 3rd place Kelly Watkins.
Alan Siebert chaired the Mock Orchestral Finals in place of Denis Najoom, who was unable to attend the conference. In this competition: there was a tie for first place between Steven Marx and Keven Crotty. Two contestants were named as runners-up: Matthew Laird and Peter Auricchio.
Ray Vasquez served as chair for the Jazz Improvisation Competition. The winners for this competition were: 1st place, Kavan Manson; 2nd place, Matt Reid; 3rd place, Martin Patfield.
This year ITG included a youth competition for the first time in its history. The Youth Day events were split into two categories. in the Under 14s category the results were: 1st Caleb Hutson; 2nd Daniel de Gruchy-Lambert; 3rd place Viccy Budden. In the Under 18s category the results were: 1st place, Matthew Palmer; 2nd place, Kitt Garner; 3rd place Huw Morgan.
The enthusiastic applause by the delegates indicated the appreciation held for all of these soloists.
DiMartino thanked member David Baldwin, who designed the certificates for each of the winners. Because of a recent surgery, Baldwin was unable to attend this year’s conference.
DiMartino also announced that Dizzy Gillespie has been selected to receive the ITG Honorary Award for his contributions to the art of trumpet playing. DiMartino plans to present this award to members of the Gillespie family in a ceremony to be held in October.
Plaques were presented to host Murray Greig and administrator Philip Biggs. DiMartino thanked each of them for their tireless efforts in organizing an extremely fine conference. Greig quoted Terry Everson, host of the 1998 Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, who said: “The only thing better than being a conference host is being a POST-conference host!” Murray passed the ceremonial bugle (a recent addition to ITG tradition!) off to Jon Burgess next year’s host at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth, Texas. Planning for the 2003 Conference is well under way. The event will take place May 21-24. Past President Jim Olcott was also honored and thanked for his efforts.
Vincent DiMartino closed the banquet with the following words: “The world events of this past year could certainly deter many of us from participating in anything. Those events encourage isolationism and lead to the ultimate failure for many to appreciate the beauty of the world. It is organizations like ours that eliminate words like isolation from our thoughts and bring us closer together through our shared conference this week and throughout the year. These memories stay with us until we meet again….and again….and again. Have a wonderful trip home, and best wishes for a great year!”
With the banquet at an end, we all headed back to RNCM for the last event of the 2002 Conference the London Brass in concert.
