March 2014 Winner: Arthur Escriva
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- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2016 05:35
- Written by Jon Kratzer
Born in 1997 to a family of musicians, Arthur Escriva began playing trumpet at the age of five in the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental du Tarn (CRD) in the class of Xavier Durand. In 2009, he joined the class of Laurent Beltran, with whom he also studied Baroque trumpet. One year later, he began studying with René Gilles Rousselot at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse (CRR).
In 2011, he won the Premier prix à l’unanimité avec les félicitations du jury (first prize unanimously with honors) in his class at the Parnassus Trumpet Competition (end of second cycle). The following year, he won first prize at the Maurice André Competition in Alès (ages 13–17) and was also a finalist for the seventh European Competition of Young Trumpeters in Alençon.
In 2013, at the age of fifteen, he won first prize in trumpet (Très bien) at the CRD Tarn and was chosen to be part of the French Youth Orchestra under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies, making him one of the youngest musicians to join that ensemble.
In 2013, he also won first prize (Supérieur) at the eighth trumpet competition at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where he was granted a fellowship to study with Pierre Dutot at the Festival du Cap Ferret. He also participated in masterclasses with Anthony Plog, Eric Aubier, Manu Mellaerts, Christian Léger, Jean-François Dion, Thierry Caens, David Guerrier, and Guy Messler.
He plays with a variety of ensembles, including the Brass Band of Toulouse, L’Ensemble Orchestral du Tarn, and Ensemble Instrumental de l’Ariège. In October 2013, he performed the concerto for trumpet and band, entitled Mister Jack, by Jean-Michel Maury with Ensemble Instrumental de l’Ariège.
As the March 2014 Young Artist Award recipient, Arthur will receive a one-year complimentary membership to ITG. Congratulations, Arthur!
January 2014 Winner: Eli Ross
- Details
- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2016 05:33
- Written by Jon Kratzer
Eli Ross, seventeen, is a senior at Southwest High School in Minneapolis. Born into a family of musicians—his parents are principal and assistant principal cellists in the Minnesota Orchestra—he began studying piano at age five and trumpet at age seven with Minnesota Orchestra trumpeter, Robert Dorer.
Eli began attending Interlochen Arts Center at the age of eight and has returned every summer since, often receiving merit scholarships. At Interlochen, he studies with John Aley and Vincent DiMartino, has performed on numerous honor recitals, and, for the past two summers, has been a member of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.
In Minneapolis, Eli has been a member of the Minnesota Youth Symphony and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, serving as principal trumpet for both groups for the past six years. He will travel to Spain, performing principal trumpet on Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 and Copland's Appalachian Spring with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony in June of 2014. He has enjoyed additional private studies with Minnesota Orchestra principal trumpeter Manny Laureano and has formed a brass quintet with other principals of the Minnesota Youth Symphony.
At Southwest High School, Eli has played in the orchestra, wind ensemble, and big band, studies private voice, and is a member of the award winning Southwest Singers. He also performs regularly as a soloist at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Upon his graduation from middle school, Eli received the outstanding musician award from Lake Harriet Community School; and that same year, he also won first prize in the Thursday Musical solo competition. Most recently, in June 2013, Eli won both an ITG Conference Scholarship and first prize in the ITG High School Solo Competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Eli has also attended ITG conferences held in Minneapolis in 2011 and New Jersey in 2006 when his late grandfather, trumpet master Leon Rapier, was given an ITG Award of Merit.
Outside of practicing trumpet, Eli has been a member of the basketball, baseball, and swim teams at Southwest High School and served as a volunteer for the Locked Out Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra during the 2012–13 season.
Eli plans on auditioning for music schools and conservatories this year, and he looks forward to teaching his first private student. As the January 2014 Young Artist Award recipient, Eli will receive a one-year complimentary membership to ITG.
June 2013 Winner: Jason Grimes
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- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2016 05:32
- Written by Jon Kratzer
Jason Grimes is currently a high school senior at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), where he has been a student of Judith Saxton since his freshman year of high school. Previously, he had studied trumpet with Dennis Renfroe.
Jason received his first trumpet the Christmas right before his fourth birthday and began lessons when he was seven. He was homeschooled until coming to UNCSA. He also studied privately on trombone and saxophone for a year each while continuing to play trumpet. His father, Jac Grimes, is a trombonist who founded the Kings of Swing jazz band. Jason’s early exposure to that group was instrumental in providing the initial spark that kindled his interest in music. He has subbed with them frequently and his strong reading and rhythmic skills are easily attributed to this early jazz influence. Jason has parlayed his early start on the trumpet and comfort with a wide variety of instruments and styles into a leadership role at the School of the Arts, where slots for all ensembles are won by audition against all trumpets in the studio (the age spans from high school to post-graduate).
This school year, Jason currently serves as principal for the UNCSA high school trumpet ensemble, performs with a brass quintet (coached by David Jolley), and also fulfills principal trumpet duties on a wide range of repertoire with the UNCSA Wind Ensemble. As a high school senior, he has also won spots over his college-aged peers to perform in a rotating section for Orchestra and Opera Orchestra. Additionally, Jason performs as a member and a strong contributor to the UNCSA Jazz Ensemble section—a spot he won this past fall. In November of 2012, he auditioned into the North Carolina All-State Honors Orchestra.
While at UNCSA, Jason has performed in various masterclasses and received chamber music coaching with guest artists Susan Slaughter, Susan Rider, Barry Bauguess, Terry Everson, Arturo Sandoval, Charles Schlueter, Marc Reese, Charles Lazarus, Richard Cox, Alan Siebert, Jeffrey Piper, Amanda Pepping, and the US Army (Pershing’s Own) Brass Quintet and Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps Bugle Section.
During his busy time at UNCSA, Jason has maintained a healthy grade point average in an extremely academically competitive high school environment and still found time in his junior year to perform as principal trumpet with the Winston-Salem Youth Symphony. He also was in the North Carolina Western Regional Honors Orchestra, and has been a two time participant in the UNCG Carolina Band Festival, his junior year winning the principal chair in their Honors Symphonic Band (grades 11 and 12).
Jason has remained active in the summer months performing, mentoring, and serving as an intern for the John Coltrane Jazz Workshop Intern’s Ensemble in Highpoint, North Carolina, and performing with the UNC-Greensboro Summer Music Camp in the junior and senior bands and orchestra (2011) every summer since 2005. He attended Purtle Brass Camp in 2011.
As a freshman and sophomore in high school, Jason was a member of the Greensboro Youth Symphony and the Greensboro High Point Home School and Jamestown Brass Ensembles. He was a finalist for the Winston-Salem Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, received superior solo ratings five consecutive years in the North Carolina Solo & Ensemble Competition, and took Taekwondo, almost attaining black belt prior to joining the UNCSA trumpet studio.
In the final months of his senior year at the UNC School of the Arts, Jason competed for a second year as a semi-finalist at the National Trumpet Competition and performed both for and with Allen Vizzutti during Vizzutti’s April Jazz Ensemble guest solo/clinician residency at UNCSA. As the June 2013 Young Artist Award recipient, Jason will receive a one-year complimentary membership in ITG.
March 2013 Winner: John Burton
- Details
- Published: Saturday, 17 December 2016 05:30
- Written by Jon Kratzer
Congratulations to our March 2013 Young Artist Award recipient John Burton, a senior at Walker Valley High School in Bradley County, Tennessee. John began his musical studies with piano lessons in the second grade progressing to the trumpet in the sixth grade at Ocoee Middle School, where he received his first award for “Best Brass Student,” launching his focus on the trumpet.
Since middle school, John has been the recipient of numerous awards and opportunities—among them three consecutive seasons as principal trumpet with the Chattanooga Symphony Youth Orchestra. A concerto winner in his sophomore year with CSYO, John performed the third movement of the Hummel Concerto for Trumpet four times in one season and will be featured this spring again as a concerto soloist showcasing his skills on the second movement of Eric Ewazen’s Trumpet Concerto.
John was featured nationally last April on NPR’s “From the Top” performing Barat’s Fantaisie in E-flat with pianist Christopher O’Reilly and was a semifinalist at the National Trumpet Competition. 2012 proved even more rewarding, resulting with prizes won at the ITG Youth Day Competition, securing principal trumpet with the Allstate East Tennessee Blue Band, and principal chairs with the Tennessee All State Band and Orchestra. Over the last four years, John has studied trumpet with Tina Erickson, dedicated educator, faculty member at the University of Tennessee and Lee University, and Blackburn Trumpet Artist.
Currently a senior at Walker Valley High, John has served as principal trumpet in the Symphony Band under the direction of Alan Hunt, additionally playing bass guitar in Fox Creek, a local bluegrass band. An excellent student and member of the National Honor Society, John maintains a straight-A average. John relaxes with numerous visual art forms such as juggling, knife throwing, and yo-yoing, and he even rides unicycles! As the March 2013 Young Artist Award Recipient, John will receive a one year complimentary membership in the ITG.
John would like to thank his parents, Mike and Fredda and three brothers (Brian, Mark, and Ben), for their love and support. At the present time, John is busy on the college audition trail and plans to pursue a career in trumpet performance.