| “Città Di Porcia” International Competition 2006 | February 11, 2007 | ||||||||||||||
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The “Città di Porcia” International Competition, which was founded in 1990, has as its goal to give more exposure to wind instruments, in particular the brass: it is the only Italian competition dedicated to these instruments. Horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba competitions take place every four years to create an event that represents an important opportunity for musical growth, and to compare and raise standards, for both Italian and foreign instrumentalists. In 1996, after five years of hard work and increasing activity, the competition became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions and obtained an important position among the music competitions open to wind instruments. Thanks to the prestige and quality of the competition, the number of contestants, who come from all five continents, has increased steadily. The high quality reached by the competition is underlined by the jury, which is made up of internationally renowned performers and teachers; the demanding music program; and the level of prizes awarded. These characteristics, among others, make the “Città di Porcia” competition an event of international significance. The competition’s seventeenth year, 2006, was the fifth one dedicated to the trumpet, the first having taken place in 1993. Although the name of the competition is still “Città di Porcia”, all the rounds are now in Pordenone, a town close to Porcia, where the final was held in the new and impressive Giuseppe Verdi Theatre. First round A total of 38 competitors participated in the first round. (48 registered from 22 countries) The program was A. Honegger – Intrada, plus one piece chosen from: The order of playing the two pieces was up to the contestants. Intrada is always a difficult piece and it was interesting to hear the different interpretations of each candidate. Most of the candidates decided to play Cascades, some others the Friedman; Takemitsu was a minor choice and only a few chose the Henze work.
Second round Ten trumpeters were admitted to the second round: Fabio Brum, Brasil The R. Gallois-Montbrun Sarabande and Finale, was the compulsory piece. After a break, the candidates had to play a baroque concerto, chosen from: In this second round the level of playing, both technically and musically, was remarkable, including the piccolo trumpet, where all the players demonstrated a good control of sound and range in these difficult high baroque pieces.
Third round The five contestants had to play the well-known and demanding A. Jolivet Concertino, and a piece of their own choice. Fabio Brum played T. Escaich’s Tanz-Fantasie; Francisco Flores, Laszlo Molnar, Rubén Simeò Gijòn played the Enesco Legende; and Enrico Negro chose the Hindemith Sonata. This round was the last chance to get into the final - a hard test also, because the week imposes major fatigue, both physical and mental, upon the contestants - and all five trumpeters are excellent players!
Fourth round with orchestra
Francisco Flores, born 1981 in San Cristobal, Venezuela, started to learn the trumpet with his father, and afterwards with Orlando Paredes in the Miguel Angel Espinel School. He also studied with Gilbert Johnson in Costa Rica in 1999 and won the audition to join the Venezuela Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, he won the 1st prize in Limoges with the Simon Bolivarbrass quintet. He studied with Pierre Thibaud, Eric Aubier and Jouko Harjanne. In 2005 he won third prize in the Hungarian International Competition and first prize at the International Philip Jones Competition in Guebwiller (France). In 2005 he graduated with distinction from the Rueil Malmasion Conservatory, where he studied with Eric Aubier. In 2006 he won the Maurice André Competition. Rubén Simeò Gijòn was born in Vigo, Spain, in 1992 and began studying the trumpet with his father José Vicente Simeò. At the age of 8 he won the first prize in the International Competition in Vigo. At the age of 10 he won 2nd prize at the Yamaha Competition, and the year after he won the first prize in the same competition in Madrid. At the age of 11 he took part at the Spanish TV program “El Conciertazo” with a symphony orchestra. He took part in masterclasses by Maurice André, Max Sommerhalder and others. He played with several symphony orchestras such as Palma de Majorca Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Alicante and Cannes. He has already made his first recording, “Ensueño”. In July 2005, he was invited by Maurice André to play in the international trumpet week in Burdeos. Recently he won the 2nd prize in the Maurice André competition. Enrico Negro was born in 1980. In July 2005 he received the highest diploma of the conservatoire “G. Cantelli” in Novara, where he is still studying with Gabriele Cassone. He has taken part in various seminars, studying with internationally known musicians such as – among others – Fred Mills (Canadian Brass), Piero Conti, Guido Seegers (Munich Philharmonic), Marco Pierobon, Ivano Buat, and Giancarlo Parodi. He has performed in several concerts and shows as soloist, and he continues to participate in many musical events such as “Piemonte in Musica”, and “Organalia”. In February 2000 he won the audition for the “Art Europa” youth orchestra in Arona, and he came third in the international competition “Rovere d'oro” in S. Bartolomeo al Mare. In February 2005 he won the audition for the Schleswig Holstein Youth Orchestra of Hamburg, which took him on tour from Germany to Japan during which he played in the greatest concert halls of the world, with conductors such as C. Eschenbach, C. Hogwood, K. Nagano, Y. Sado and soloists such as Midori and A. Schumann. In November 2006 he participated in the Maurice André competition in Paris, where he received a special mention. The three trumpeters all played the Haydn trumpet concerto (the Hummel was the other option). This final round was in the new Giuseppe Verdi Theatre, a beautiful modern building, with the Friuli Venezia Giulia symphony orchestra, under artistic director G. Doro providing the accompaniment.
Gabriele Cassone's further comments As president and member of the jury I cannot write about the playing of individual candidates, but I noticed a generally good level of playing here in Porcia from the encouraging number of contestants. Some of us had some students in the competition but in this case the judge-teacher cannot vote for their own student – a good rule which helps maintain the integrity of the competition. When a judge knows a contestant, sometimes it is hard to make a decision because they feel that the candidate is not at their best at that particular performance. What is crucial is that we judge the performance heard at the time of the competition. Now that the technical level is good pretty much everywhere in the world, I must emphasise, more and more, the importance of a musical and communicative approach to the performance, with correct style. Competitors must not think only of the notes, but say something to the audience with the trumpet. I am now seeing and hearing some improvement in this area in young trumpeters, compared with the past. But … in my opinion the important thing is to organize these competitions to also allow the opportunity for all the trumpeters to meet each other, to listen, to ask an opinion (once the competition has finished!) of some member of the jury. Orchestral auditions maybe give an opportunity to get an important job, whereas these competitions do not so much help to build a solo career any more, but are certainly an exceptional aid in developing and stimulating contestants’ mastery of their instrument. So the competitors can hope for some improvements, and will always find the competitions an incentive to study more and more to be able to play the demanding repertoire, which is much broader and more complete than that of orchestral auditions. Another part of the competition’s success was having a big audience for the final round with orchestra. To have a lot of people coming to listen to our instrument is a great goal today, now that classical music seems sometimes to have difficulty in attracting big audiences. Big thanks are due to Prof. G. Doro, who year after year works through all the difficulties of giving life to this major event, and to all involved in the organization of the competition, which not only helps brass players to improve themselves, but also serves to help with wider awareness and knowledge of brass instruments.
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