Festival gallery

Organizers Irina Vakulenko and Gennady Nikonov with the performers

Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet outside Shostakovich Hall

L to R: Mills, Margolin, Ulrich

Performers on stage at Shostakovich Hall

The Third International Romantic Trumpet Festival took place May 23-27, 2005 in St. Petersburg, Russia. This annual event, consisting of concerts featuring solo trumpet with a variety of accompaniments, brought together trumpet players from the USA, Canada, Germany, and Russia for four outstanding concerts in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. The accompaniments for the soloists were brass quintet, organ, and jazz band.

The Festival was organized by Irina Vakulenko (pianist and composer) and Gennady Nikonov, Principal Trumpet of the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov Ballet). This Festival, with very limited financial support, relies on performers donating their services and travel expenses. In exchange, each musician is given a hotel room in the heart of St. Petersburg, two meals per day, and an opportunity to perform in two of the best concert halls in Russia, the Shostakovich Hall (where the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, formerly called the Leningrad Philharmonic, performs) and the smaller, Glinka Hall. Both halls, while very old, are full of beauty and history.

The musicians participating in this event were Fred Mills (formerly of Canadian Brass and now Professor of Trumpet at the University of Georgia), Richard Carson Steuart (Canada/Germany), P. Bradley Ulrich and David Ginn (USA, Western Carolina University), Gennady Nickonov (Principal Trumpet of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra/Russia), Vladislav Lavrik (Principal Trumpet, Russian National Orchestra/Russia), The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet (WCU), The Russian Brass (members of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Igor Sharapov and Alexey Belyaev, trumpets), The Academy Brass (members of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Konstantin Baryshev and Michael Khasin, trumpets), Sergey Gusyatinsky’s St. Petersburg Big Band, Oleg Kinyaev organist, and Irina Vakulenko, pianist/composer.

The first concert, performed in The Glinka Hall on May 24th, featured solo trumpet with brass quintet accompaniment. Richard Carson Steuart performed three movements from the Boehme Sextet with the Academy Brass. The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet performed the 1st and 3rd movements of Eric Ewazen’s Frost Fire and Just a Closer Walk by Don Gills. Gennady Nikonov performed Boehme’s Tarantella and a new composition by the Festival Producer, Irina Vakulenko, entitled The Prayer, A Spiritual Concert, with lyrics by Mother Superior Taisia Leushinskaya, featuring C Trumpet, brass quintet, and vocal ensemble. Vladislav Lavric and the Academy Brass performed Suttermeister’s Concert Gavot, Deniku’s Hora-Staccatto, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble-Bee. The program concluded with three works performed by Fred Mills, How Do You Keep the Music Playing by Legrand, Tete a Tete by Farnon, and Virtuoso by Nogueira. All three of these works were arranged for double brass quintet accompaniment, featuring the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet and the Academy Brass Quintet.

The second concert of the Festival, performed in Shostakovich Hall on May 25th, featured solo trumpet with organ accompaniment. The organist was a wonderful musician named Oleg Kinyaev, who is a professor at the Choir College. The program began with the first movement of Holst’s Second Suite performed by the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet. Richard Carson Steuart performed Viviani’s Sonata Prima on baroque trumpet. Vladislav Lavrik performed the Telemann Concerto in D on piccolo trumpet and then Lavrik and Carson teamed up to perform the Stoelzel Concerto for two trumpets on piccolo trumpets. This performance was followed by Gennady Nikonov’s performance of Hand’s A Prayer and Skulte’s Aria. Fred Mills performed a beautiful arrangement of Girl with Flaxen Hair by Debussy, and P. Bradley Ulrich performed Wuensch’s four-movement composition, Suite for Trumpet and Organ. The program ended with the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet’s performance of two American compositions, Confitemini, by Carlyle Sharpe, and Triptych, by David Ashley White: both of these wonderful works are original compositions for brass quintet and organ.

The third concert of the Festival, performed in the Grand Palace (an upscale shopping mall on Nevsky Prospect) on May 27th, featured solo trumpet with jazz band accompaniment. Sergey Gusyatinsky’s St. Petersburg Big Band accompanied each of the soloists and also performed several works by themselves. The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet performed two works on the program as an example of earlier jazz, Scott Joplin’s Something Doing, and Lew Pollack’s That’s A Plenty”. David Ginn performed Aim for the Heart by B. Armstrong, Vladislav Lavrik performed Candy by Ellington, Fred Mills performed Fascinating Rhythm by Gershwin, and Richard Carson Steuart performed Monk’s Round Midnight and an original composition (on which he also sang) entitled Faded Rainbows.

A repeat of the May 27th jazz concert was held in a jazz club on the final night, May 28th. This venue was a very small jazz club with a stage and ten tables. While it was too small for a jazz band by most standards, it did give the packed club a chance to interact more intimately with the musicians.

Despite political, social, and economic tensions in the world, it was obvious to all that a trumpet player is a trumpet player anywhere one travels in the world. All of the audiences and participants seemed eager to hear the different compositions and styles performed at each of the concerts; there was never a feeling of a performer being judged as if in a competition. The receptions after the concerts were an added bonus of the Festival - all of the performers and many other brass enthusiasts gathered at a downtown Jazz Club after each performance. At each of these gatherings we were honored to have in our company the legendary Russian trumpet player, Veniamin Margolin, who was for three decades, the Principal Trumpet of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Margolin also taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory for many years. Margolin performed the Principal Trumpet part on the premiere of Shostakovich Symphonies 8-12 and received the Honorary Artist of Russia designation for his renowned performances and unique playing style. After great food and many toasts of Russian vodka, the socials were adjourned, which gave us all a chance to walk around St. Petersburg in the time of “White Nights”, where it stays light outside until well past midnight.

Link:
Third International Romantic Trumpet Festival