October 2024 Winner: Stefan Gjorgiev

Stefan Gjorgiev

This issue’s featured Young Artist Award winner is Stefan Gjorgiev, a seventeen-year-old trumpet player originally from Macedonia, who currently lives in Velika Gorica, Croatia. Stefan is in his third year of school at Velika Gorica Artistic School, called “Franjo Lučić,” and currently performs as principal trumpet in his school’s orchestra.

Since 2017, Stefan has been studying trumpet with Tomislav Spoljar, who is a professional trumpeter, pedagogue, and artistic director of the Heavy Metal concert cycle and the Velika Gorica Brass Festival. Stefan is very grateful to Professor Spoljar for doing so much to help Stefan succeed. His recent successes include winning the grand prize in the Power Sunrise International Competition in Skierniewice, Poland, in April 2024; winning all of the regional competitions in Bulgaria and Lithuania; and taking second prize in the Ictus International Music Competition in 2020. He also competed in the Youth Senior Division of The Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition at the 2024 ITG Conference and won third place. His first major win was in a Bulgarian competition, which he won at twelve years old. In addition to studying with Spoljar, Stefan has taken lessons with such trumpeters as David Baldwin, Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Vincent DiMartino, Jason Dovel, Reinhold Friedrich, Gerassimos Ioanidiss, Yigal Meltzer, Sergei Nakariakov, Tamas Palfalvi, Anthony Plog, Peter Wood, and Allen Vizzutti.

One could say that playing trumpet is in Stefan’s blood; his grandfather was solo trumpet in Skopje Philharmonic Orchestra, and his father is also a musician and amateur trumpet player. Stefan is grateful for the support of his parents, particularly due to the financial support necessary to purchase equipment for and travel to various performance opportunities. He plans to study trumpet performance at a European university and hopes to one day make a career as a trumpet soloist. In addition to his teachers and his family, Stefan feels very appreciative for the support of Bob Reeves Brass Mouthpieces, especially John Snell, who made a point of working closely with Stefan to get him what he needed, and of Hub von Larr, who gave him a professional trumpet. Kostja Avsec, the Slovenian representative for Buffet Crampon and the Brasseraj company in Croatia have also been very generous with their support of Stefan to help him with equipment needs and advice. Stefan’s favorite trumpeters are Sergei Nakariakov, Giuliano Sommerhalder, Miles Davis, and Clark Terry. Stefan also enjoys listening to all types of music, including R&B and pop, and likes to play basketball with his friends. As the October 2024 ITG Young Artist Award winner, he will receive a one-year complimentary ITG membership. Congratulations, Stefan!