The 2009 “Orhid Pearls” International Competition, including three levels of competition for trumpet, was held in Orhid, Macedonia from June 16-20. Judges for the competition (appearing in the photo l-r) were Milan Radic of Serbia, Vaso Ristov of Macedonia, Sokratis Anthis of Greece, Gregory Jones of the USA, Angel Makedonski of Bulgaria, and Sokol Sarachi of Albania. Vaso Ristov, the host of the brass competition is a member of the faculty of music in Skopje and Tetovo, Macdeonia and is also on the music faculty of the Music Academy in Pristina, Kosovo. The competition included two performance rounds featuring different literature requirements, all performed with piano accompaniment. Competitors in this year’s competition came from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Winners in each instrumental level also competed for a grand prize including a cash award and a future solo performance with a Macedonian orchestra. Dimitar Panajotov was the winner in Category I of the trumpet competition with performances of Arban’s Carnival of Venice and Children’s Concert by Chelohov. Georgi Stoykov won Category II with concertos by Haydn, Arutunian, and Neruda and Grand Russian Fantasia by Levy. Both winners were from Bulgaria.

M. Radic, V. Ristov, S. Anthis, G. Jones, A. Makedonski, S. Sarachi