In early May 2013, Dr. Leonard Candelaria and Dr. Gregory Jones, hosted by Professor Chen Rui of the Tianjin Conservatory, returned to China for a series of performances and master classes as part of the May Festival of Music and Culture.  During their seventeen-day visit, Candelaria and Jones served as visiting artists at the Beijing Central Conservatory, Tianjin Conservatory, and Northwest National University in Lanzhou.  Each residency lasted several days allowing for several master classes, rehearsals and performances of trumpet and brass music.

A focus of this visit was to involve students and faculty members from each institution in ensemble brass playing including intensive rehearsals and performances.  Dances from Terpsichore by Michael Praetorius and a collection of Ennio Morricone movie themes arranged by Greek trumpeter Panos Vlachos provided a workshop into ensemble playing and stylistic considerations for each group.  Concerts also featured works for solo trumpet with piano and solo trumpet with brass ensemble by both visiting professors and their hosts.   Candelaria offered solo performances of the Ewazen Sonata for Trumpet and Piano and Rafael Mendez’s La Virgen de la Macarena with brass accompaniment.  Jones presented Kent Kennan’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano and an arrangement of the Adagio movement from the Concierto de Araunjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo with the brass group.  During their visit, the two collaborated with pianist, Zhang Tian, a music instructor from the Tianjin Conservatory who traveled with them.  At the Beijing Central Conservatory, Associate Professor of Trumpet and Brass Section Chair Chen Guang hosted the duo and also performed the Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel Concerto for Trumpet with piano and joined the guests in Benjamin Britten's Fanfare for St. Edmundsbury.  In Tianjin and Lanzhou, Professor Chen Rui, of the Tianjin Conservatory, joined the performances as a featured soloist on the Concertino in Eb for Trumpet and Brass of Ernst Sachse.  In these two visits, trumpet students also rehearsed and performed a trumpet ensemble arrangement of Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture. 

Trumpeter Han Wei hosted the residency at Northwest National University along with trumpet teacher Wang Zijun.  Both men also performed in the brass ensemble and trumpet ensemble for the evening concert.  In addition to three days in Lanzhou, the guests were also offered a side excursion via overnight train to the city of Dunhuang, an ancient Silk Road stop in the Gobi Desert where they visited the famous Magao Caves and their Buddha statues.  Jones and Candelaria also visited Shanghai and met with Ji Ruikai, emeritus professor of trumpet from the Beijing Central Conservatory and the trumpet teacher of Chen Rui and Chen Guang.

This is the second visit to China for Leonard Candelaria and the fourth for Gregory Jones who has been a Visiting Professor for the Tianjin Conservatory since 2001. 

For their first joint appearance, they were featured on the initial recital for the first conference of the China Trumpet Guild in 2007 in Beijing.  Dr. Candelaria is an Edwards Trumpets Performing Artist and they generously supported his travel to China and accompanied his master classes.  Dr. Jones was assisted by Truman State University where he teaches applied trumpet and directs the brass choir.

Source: Dr. Gregory Jones, Professor of Music (Trumpet), Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri