1st prize winner Giuliano Sommerhalder

The 58th annual Prague Spring festival took place in May 2003. Part of the festival, in all but three years, is the International Music Competition which each year focuses on two categories. This year - the competition's 55th - the featured instruments were trumpet and violin. (In 2004 it will be the turn of trombone and piano.) The competition ran in three rounds, with an initial group of 32 applicants selected on audio recordings; the competition rounds in Prague worked through a substantial collection of trumpet works, climaxing in concert performances of the Haydn and Tomasi concerti with the Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Trumpet competition results

1st Prize: Giuliano Sommerhalder (Switzerland)

2nd Prize: Clément Saunier (France)

3rd Prize: Raphaël Dechoux (France)

Additional prizes

Honorable mention: Timur Martynov (Russia), Gábor Richter (Hungary)

The Czech Music Fund Foundation Prize for the best performance of the composition by Juraj Filas A Very Short Love Story: Giuliano Sommerhalder (Switzerland)

Jury

Guy Touvron (France; chairman), Hans Gansch (Austria), Jouko Harjanne (Finland), Frank Kaderabek (U.S.A.), Miroslav Kejmar (Czech Republic), Vladimir Rejlek (Czech Republic), Kenji Tamija (Japan).

Notes on the winners (from the competition brochure)

Giuliano Sommerhalder (Switzerland), 1st prize: Born in 1985. Studied with Max Sommerhalder at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, Detmold, Germany, and with Pierluigi Salvi at the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Verdi" in Como, Italy.
1st prize at the International Trumpet Competition at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow, Russia, 1997.
1st prize at the International Competition "Concertino Praga", Prague, Czech Republic, 2001.
2nd prize at the International Trumpet Competition "Timofei Dokzhitser", Vilnius, Lithuania, 2002.

Dechoux, Sommerhalder, Saunier and Martynov

Clément Saunier (France), 2nd prize: Born in 1979. Studied with Pierre Gillet, Gérard Boulanger, and with Clément Garrec at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris.
1st prize at the Città di Porcia International Trumpet Competition, Porcia, Italy, 2002.

Raphaël Dechoux (France), 3rd prize: Born in 1976. Studied with Pierre Thibaud and Clément Garrec at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris. Principal trumpet with the Orchestre National de France since 1997.

Timur Martynov (Russia), Finalist, Honorable Mention: Born in 1979. Studied with G. Kaminskiy and J. Bolshiyanov (St. Petersburg) and Charles Consbruck (Luxembourg). Principal Trumpet, St. Petersburg State Academy Symphony Orchestra.
4th prize, 4th International Trumpet Competition "Maurice André", Paris, France, 2000.
2nd prize, 2nd International Trumpet Competition "Raimo Sarmas", Lieksa, Finland, 2002.

Gábor Richter (Hungary), Honorable Mention: Born in 1981. Studied with Ferenc Csincsí (Balatonfüred), László Sinaj (Vesprém), and Frigyes Varasdy at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy (Budapest).
1st prize, International Competition for Flute and Trumpet, Luxembourg 2001
1st prize, International Brass Competition, Jeju, Korea, 2002
3rd prize, International Trumpet Competition, Pilisvörösvár, Hungary, 2002

Website:
Prague Spring Festival (available in Czech, German and English)