Denison University Trumpet Ensemble
with Manny Laureano

The Ohio chapter of the International Trumpet Guild kicks off each year’s conference with a Festival of Trumpets in which various college trumpet ensembles present a lively recital of fanfares with pomp and bravura.  The trumpet ensembles convening this year’s event included Wright State University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Ohio University, Denison University, Bowling Green State University, Miami University, and conference host, Ohio State University.  During the recital, the featured soloist, Manny Laureano, (Principal Trumpet, Minnesota Orchestra) searched for valve oil backstage when the trumpet ensemble from Denison University was about to take the stage.  Half jokingly, the director, Mark Wade, invited Laureano to file out onto stage unannounced with the students to perform.  No sooner had Laureano graciously accepted his impromptu offer, he oiled his valves and took the stage with the college trumpet ensemble.  The audience got a sneak peek at the guest soloist, and surprise ringer with the Denison University trumpet ensemble!

Laureano in master class
with Borsage

Following the opening remarks by host Tim Leasure of Ohio State University, Manny Laureano presented a master class with college players.  The first master class participant was Jonathan Bosarge, a D.M.A. student from Ohio State University, playing the first movement of the Gregson Concerto for Trumpet.  Laureano offered creative musical interpretations of this difficult piece, such as identifying and phrasing each line towards its focal point.  He added that exaggeration is critical when shaping lines musically, and he compared exaggerated musicality with overstated stage make-up that may appear garish up close but appears normal from the audience.  Laureano also stressed the importance of finding the poetic rhythm and “rhyming points” in everything one plays.  The next student, from Cedarville University, performed Cascades, by Allen Vizutti.  Laureano offered great advice for preparing a piece a technically demanding piece: determine the tempo for the work from the most difficult passage.  He also suggested recording oneself with a metronome next to the microphone, as the recording reveals when the performance diverges from the metronomic beat due to its proximity to the microphone.  Laureano worked with the final student of the master class, from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, on expanding the musical palate of dynamics in the first movement of the Sonata for Trumpet by Kent Kennan.  Relating back to his earlier ideas on bringing out the musical line, Laureano admonished players not to confuse the high note of a phrase with the high point of a phrase.

Laureano in master class

After lunch, the conference continued with Laureano's recital, during which he offered interesting historical and interpretive ideas on each piece.  He opened the concert with Honneger's Intrada.  Laureano introduced Legende, by Enesco, by challenging the audience to find Enesco’s quote from Wagner’s opera, Parsifal.  In his unique presentation of Bozza's Rustiques, Laureano stated that the basis of his interpretation of this piece is the piece La Vie en Rose, which defined French popular style and use of vibrato.  Next, Laureano performed the Ketting Intrada.  In this piece, Laureano questioned for whom this piece is an introduction and encourged the listener to playfully redefine the purpose for the Intrada.  In his reading of the piece, Laureano treated this work an introduction to the Hindemith piece that followed.  As a means to capture the mystical and ethereal qualities of the piece, Laureano selected to perform the work on Bb trumpet and selectively used a fedora hat to mute lyrical passages.  The highlight of the recital was his performance of the Hindemith Sonata for Trumpet and Piano.  In his introduction to the piece, Laureano shared his vision of the first movement as contrasting the ascending “life” theme of the trumpet against the descending themes in the piano, and the expression of the inevitability of death in the second movement.  His deliberate use of vibrato gave the piece a distinctive German style.  The end result was a powerful conclusion to the recital.

Columbus Symphony Orchestra Brass

The conference continued with a presentation from the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Brass.  The performers included Gene Standley, David Urschel, Julia Rose and Adam Koch (horns), Thomas Battenberg, Jeffrey Korak, Alan Campbell, and David Duro (trumpets), Andrew Millat, Richard Howenstine, and Joe Duchi (trombones), and James Akins (tuba).  The trumpet ensemble of Ohio Wesleyan University played Canzona by Scheidt as an introduction to the presentation. The symphony brass players began with Fanfare for La Peri, by Dukas.  Each section presented representative orchestral excerpts, including an opera quartet by Rossini (horns), Canzona, by Marine, and Bruckner’s chorale, “Ave Maria” (low brass).  The trumpet section presented familiar and characteristic excerpts which included Debussy's Fêtes, the trumpet fanfare from Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Frank’s Symphony in D Minor, demonstrating the timbre and use of trumpets and cornets, and “March to the Scaffold” from Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique.  The entire brass section joined forces to conclude their performance with the fanfare from Fêtes and excerpts from the end of Frank’s Symphony in D Minor first and fourth movements.

Midwest Jazz Trumpet Ensemble
Leonard Foy, Michael Hackett, Mark Buselli, Scott Belck

The Midwest Jazz Trumpet Ensemble took the stage next to top off the annual conference.  Trumpeters Leonard Foy, Michael Hackett, Mark Buselli and Scott Belck was joined by Roger Hines on bass, Zach Compston on drums, Tony Hagood on piano, and William Flynn on Guitar.  

The 2010 Ohio chapter of the International Trumpet Guild will be hosted by Wright State University on April 17th.  The featured guest artists will be Robert Sullivan, Principal Trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony/former second trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, and jazz legend, Pat Harbison.  Sullivan and Harbison will present master classes and recitals respectively.  As always, there will be an exciting Festival of Trumpets, featuring collegiate trumpet ensembles from across the state.  

Ohio Trumpet Professors and Manny Laureano
John Schlabach, Tim Leasure, Manny Laureano, James Olcott, Alan Siebert, Mark Wade, and Larry Griffin

Source: Dr. Mark Wade, Assistant Professor of Trumpet, Denison University, photos courtesy of Vera Olcott