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2007 International Trombone Week
A Partial Recap By Colleen Wheeler
Sunday, April 1st
Central Michigan University, with Dr. Robert Lindahl,
Professor of Trombone, presented a joint trombone choir
concert with Just Trombones, a community trombone choir
from Midland, Michigan. After Just Trombones and the CMU
Trombone Choir played their individual programs, they
joined forces and performed Tchesnokoff’s Salvation is
Created, Lassus Trombone, and America the Beautiful.
Capital University kicked off Trombone Week with a twoday
event featuring guest artist Phil Wilson. The events were
sponsored by Edwards Trombones, the Columbus Jazz Arts
Group, and Capital University. Day One (Sunday) began
with a morning master class and ended with an evening
concert that featured Wilson, his arrangements, and the
Capital University Trombone Choir under the direction
of Tom Zugger. Monday continued the festivities with
Wilson providing private lessons to Capital students and
appearing as guest soloist with Vaughn Weister’s Famous
Jazz Orchestra. Forty people attended the master class, one
hundred and twenty-five people attended the concert on
Sunday, and one hundred and fifty people attended the
concert on Monday night.
The Ohio University Trombone Choir performed as part of
the Palm Sunday services at the First United Methodist
Church in Athens, Ohio.
Fruhling Posaunen or “Spring Trombones” is an annual Palm
Sunday event now in its 18th year. The trombone professors
from The Pennsylvania State University, Ithaca College, and
The Eastman School of Music organize the event and take
turns hosting it. Fruhling Posaunen features intense practice
sections between the three choirs, a guest choir, and
demonstrations by various clinicians. The day culminates in a
concert that features performances by each of the individual
choirs, as well as a massed choir piece. The Pennsylvania
State University hosted this year’s event.
The Stentorian Consort performed a recital at Henderson
State University in Arkansas.
Monday, April 2nd
Spring Trombone Night at the University of South Carolina
featured the Carolina Trombone Collective, the USC
Trombone Choir, chamber groups, and a variety of soloists.
Tuesday, April 3rd
John Renfroe and John Larson performed their Junior
Performance and Senior Certificate recitals at Florida
State University.
Henderson State University’s Trombone Studio presented a
studio recital featuring their Trombone Choir and student
soloists on its campus in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Dr. James Bicigo presented a master class at Central Michigan
University, performed an unaccompanied composition of his
own (“Interior Passages”), and worked with four members of
CMU’s trombone studio.
A group of trombonists from Cincinnati presented a concert
for the residents of Cottingham Retirement Center. Cincinnati
trombonists have presented a concert at a retirement center
in observance of ITW for the last three years.
Oklahoma State University’s sophomore trombonist Isaac
Washam performed the Ferdinand David Concertino with the
OSU Symphony Orchestra. Washam is the 2006-2007 OSU
Concerto Competition Winner.
Jemmie Robertson performed music by Malcolm Arnold,
Ralph Vaughan-Williams, Thomas Tallis, Lawrence Borden,
and Sharon Davis in a recital at Augustana College in Rock
Island, Illinois.
The trombone quartet “Slide Factory” performed at Patrick
Henry Mall in Newport News, Virginia.
Wednesday, April 4th
Ellis Seiberlin, graduate bass trombonist, offered a recital that
featured works by Bozza, Lassen, Fetter, and Hidas at the
Ohio University School of Music.
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Trombone Ensemble
performed classic and modern repertoire.
Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s second annual
Trombone Day included soloists David Begnoche, Brent
Phillips, and Barney McCollum performing works by
Richard Wagner, James Kazik, Tommy Pederson, and
Leonard Bernstein.
John Fedchock joined the South Florida Jazz Orchestra
in performance at Arturo Sandoval’s Jazz Club in Miami
Beach, Florida.
Virginia’s Tidewater Trombone Choir performed with
professional, military, and ex-military musicians in support
of ITW.
Javier Stuppard presented his graduate trombone recital in
Bates Recital Hall at the University of Texas.
Thursday, April 5th
The Ohio University Trombone Choir, under the direction of
Associate Professor of Trombone Chris Hayes, performed
“Legacy” by Mark Phillips for five trombones and soloist
(written in memory of Reginald Fink, former trombone teacher
at Ohio University); Palestrina’s “Four Renaissance Movements”
using alto and small trombones; and an arrangement of “12th
Street Rag” by Tutti Camarata with rhythm section.
Ouachita Baptist University’s Faculty Brass Ensemble, with
Sim Flora and Josh Bynum on trombone, performed works
by Poulenc, Blacher, Cheetham, and Reynolds.
Prapat Nujoy presented a senior bass trombone recital that
included “Fly Me to the Moon” with the University of Alaska’s
(Fairbanks) Trombone Quartet.
Henderson State University offered a low brass chamber
recital that featured performances by the HSU Trombone
Choir, Trombone Quartet, and Tuba Choir.
The University of Louisville Trombone Ensemble performed
works for small and large trombone ensembles.
The University of Texas at Austin Trombone Choir, winners
of the 2007 Remington International Trombone Choir
Competition, presented a concert in Bates Recital Hall on the
UT campus. The concert featured the Stoltzer Fantasia, one of
the oldest trombone choir pieces, and “Stardust for the Chief”
as a tribute to the trombone and Emory Remington, one of
the instrument’s most important pedagogues. The UT Choir also performed works by Dukas, Bach, Mendelssohn, and
Wagner. The concert culminated in a rousing massed-choir
performance of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” complete
with the infamous piccolo part transcribed for trombone
soloist. Members of the massed ensemble included nearly
seventy players of all ages hailing from Austin, Houston,
Dallas, San Antonio, and other surrounding cities. UT hosted
other ITW events, including recitals by students Brian Hecht
and Javier Stuppard.
Josh Bledsoe, candidate for the Bachelors degree in Trombone
Performance at Florida State University, offered a program of
works by Gilroy, Albrechtsberger, Beethoven, Crespo, and Z.
Randall Stroope (world premiere of Three for Two for
trombone and piano). Assisting Josh were members of the
FSU Trombone Choir.
Wichita State University’s Russ Widener and his trombone
class offered an hour-long presentation of videotaped
performances and commentary. Featured pieces included a
high school trombone quartet performing Robert Elkjer’s
arrangement of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” bass
trombone excerpts prepared for a festival audition, Eric
Cook’s Bolivar, Daniel Schnyder’s Sonata for Bass Trombone
(written for Dave Taylor), and the Sonatina for Bass Trombone
by Halsey Stevens. Widener’s event was broadcast live over
the web and offered a chat messaging channel for audience
interaction. This event was part of The Slide Heard Round
the World, a series that has been part of every ITW. To hear
Wichita’s audio stream and learn about The Slide, please visit
www.wheatoncollege.edu/it_s/internet2/trombone or
contact Colleen Wheeler at cwheeler@wheatonma.edu.
Friday April 6th
National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Slide Hampton,
performed with the Oklahoma State University Jazz
Ensembles in OSU’s Seretean Center for the Performing Arts.
David Vance, candidate for the Master of Music degree and
student of Dr. JoDee Davis, presented a recital at UMKC
Conservatory. His program included Darius Milhaud’s
Concertino d’Hiver, Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden
Gesellen, and Buxton Orr’s Concerto. Over forty people
enjoyed this successful performance.
Matt Laube presented a recital at the University of Utah.
Laube performed works for alto and tenor trombone by L.
Mozart, Ropartz, Serocki, Rabe, Debussy, and Larsson.
The Frost Trombone Choir, under the direction of Tim
Conner, gave a short performance at the Brass Forum in
Filmore Hall at the University of Miami.
Saturday
April 7th
The Texas Jazz Bones presented a concert in Homer Rainey
Hall-Jessen Auditorium at the University of Texas. The
ensemble was the winner of the 2007 International and
National Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition.
Florida State University’s Trombone Choir performed in FSU’s
Opperman Music Hall. Their program included works by
Bruckner, Dvorak, Edwards, Ewazen, Mendelssohn,
Nelhybel, Rachmaninoff, and Saint-Saens.
The Bartlett Street Brass, a brass trio of director and
trombonist Paul Frontiero, trumpeter Nick Colosani, and
tubist Jack Fuller, performed before a packed house in the
auditorium at Springmoor Retirement Community in Raleigh,
North Carolina. Their charts were popular American music,
Sousa marches, and Irving Berlin classics. That evening, a duet
of Frontiero and Colosanti performed as the “sassy brassy jazz
band, Who’s Your Daddy” at the Raleigh cafe Hereghty’s,
where classic jazz and dixieland dominated the evening.
Sunday
April 8th
The Anchorage Trombone Choir performed at the Anchorage
Lutheran Church, Alaska, under the direction of Shawn
Campbell, USAF, retired. Choir members included amateur
and professional musicians, University of Alaska faculty and
students, and former and current members of Air Force bands.
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who participated in 2007’s
International Trombone Week! Your musicianship and
generous spirit made this year an important and successful
milestone for our community.
Thank you to ITA member Brad Edwards, who composed
new trombone music in honor of the week. All of his ITW
fanfares are available at no cost for download!
Get the Word Out
Start planning your 2008 International Trombone Week event
now. Set aside the week of April 6-12, 2008, and watch The
ITA Journal for more information.
Colleen Wheeler is the Asst. Director for Web Strategy Team at
Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. She also plays trombone in the
Swing 7 band.
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