First Prize winner Antal Endre Nagy

The three prizewinners (from L): Nagy, Hara, Gerber

Heike Gerber

The seventh yearly Europäischen Klassik Festival Ruhr (Ruhr European Classical Music Festival), was held from August 28 to September 4 in Marl, Germany. This year the featured instrument for the yearly competition was the trumpet. Music High Schools and Conservatories all over Europe were invited to nominate their best trumpet student. Twenty-five trumpet players from all over Europe competed in the first round of this three-round competition.

In the first round the contestants had to play a 20-30 minute programme with one piece for trumpet solo and two pieces for trumpet and piano. The piece for trumpet solo was chosen from: Solus by Stanley Friedman, Variation Movements by Robert Henderson, 12 Signale by Werner Heider, Quattero Pezzi by Giacinto Scelsi and Paths (in memoriam Witold Lutoslawski) by Toru Takemitsu. The first work for trumpet and piano had to be chosen from: Bitsch, Quatre Variations; Francaix, Sonatine; Hindemith, Sonata; Kennan, Sonata and Halsey Stevens, Sonata. The choice for the second trumpet and piano piece was from Clarke, The Debutante; Gaubert, Cantabile et Scherzetto; Thorvald Hansen, Sonate; Höhne, Slavische Fantasie and Gabriel Parès, Fantasie Caprice.

For the second round another programme of 20-30 minutes was required. The obligatory pieces were the Fasch Concerto and the Jolivet Concertino. From the contestants in the second round three finalists were selected who had to play one of the two pieces with the “Neuen Philharmonie Westfalen” (Westphalia New Philharmonic), conducted by Daniel Lipton. Also, three contestants were selected to play at a number of chamber music concerts.

The musicians who advanced to the second round were: Hugo Blacher (19, France), Stian Eilertsen (25, Norway), Heike Gerber (25, Germany), Fruzsina Hara (22, Hungary), Antal Endre Nagy (21, Hungary) and Romasz Wozniak (25, Poland).

The first prize was won by Antal Endre Nagy. With his performance of the Jolivet Concertino, he also won the EMCY – Art for Music prize and the prize awarded by the public. The second prize was shared between Fruzsina Hara and Heike Gerber. Hara also won the prize awarded by the orchestra. She has been invited to play the Fasch Concerto again with the orchestra next year.

The three trumpet players selected for the chamber music series were Nagy again, Stian Eilertsen and Romasz Wozniak. They played a selection from their repertoire from the first and second rounds at several chamber music concerts.

The members of the jury were: Eckart Rohlfs (chair), Edward Tarr, Wolfgang Guggenberger and Klaus Schuwerk (Germany), Bengt Eklund (Sweden), Bernhard Soustrot (France), and Anatoly Selyanin (Russia).

Website:
Europäischen Klassik Festival Ruhr (in German)