David Guerrier (left) and Vincent Boucher with students from the Glenn Gould School of Music

When David Guerrier started playing the trumpet at seven years old, the French teenager says, it was hard at first to make a good sound. At the Walmer Baptist Church in Toronto this 3rd of March, twelve years later, in a concert promoted by the Alliance Française of Toronto, David Guerrier thrilled the audience with his perfect dexterity in his instrument. Along with the organist Vincent Boucher, who took the prestigious 2002 Prix d'Europe of the Quebec Academy of Music, David Guerrier interpreted music by several classical and baroque composers and also gave a prominent place to the modern scene. Pieces by Giovanni Viviani, Nicolas Lebègue, Girolamo Fantini, Johann Sebastian Bach and Claude-Bénigne Balbastre were skillfully interpreted to carry the melody around with a mélange of rhythms and virtuosity, including some familiar hymns for the French audience with Balbastre's Marche des Marseillais et Air Ça-ira.

For the modern part of the concert, David focused on French composers George Delerue, Jean Françaix, and Jean Langlais for post-classical aficionados. He also welcomed three young trumpet students from the Glenn Gould School of Music who joined him in the last movement of this concert, with the Marche Triomphale. This encounter gave us some surprising phrases from the trumpets toward the end of the piece. In between, Vincent Boucher did an outstanding solo with a Charles Tournemire score which the whole church enjoyed.

David Guerrier proved to the audience that night that musical maturity is not linked solely with age but with virtuosity. David says the secret to his success is hard work. He quotes a famous saying from Jacques Brel: "Desire is the only talent, everything else is sweat." That means that even if you are talented, you have to practice a lot and work hard to achieve your goals. And that's what he did to give such an astonishing concert.

• David Guerrier has already won:
• First Prize, Markneuchkirchen International Trumpet Competition 1998
• First Prize, Mock Orchestra Competition Audition in Richmond (USA, ITG Conference) 1999
• First Prize in the Porcia International Competition (Italy) in 1999
• First Prize in the Solo Competition Audition in New-York (USA , ITG Conference) 2000
• First Prize in the City of Paris International Maurice Andre Competition, 2000
• Finalist in the Young Musicians European Broadcast Competition (Bergen , Norway), 2000
• Laureate for Pro-Europa, 2002
• Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, 2003
• First Young Concert Artists European Auditions, 2003
• Saint Vincent College Concert Series Prize
• Best soloist of the year, Classical Music Awards 2004, France.

Website:
Alliance Francaise Toronto - page about the concert, with full programme (in French and English)