Above: Members of the ensemble (from left): Chris Kristich, Josh Belvin, Adam Chapman, Billy Dellinger, Chris Bence, Rachael Rimmer, Becky Ford and Megan Neeley. Not pictured is Adam Capps.

The Western Carolina University Trumpet Ensemble has been invited to perform at the Orvieto Musica Trumpet Festival in Italy in June 2008.

Nine members of the ensemble will be attending the festival, which will include performances as the WCU Trumpet Ensemble and in a larger group consisting of players from all around Europe. The concerts will take place around Orvieto and also in Rome. The students will perform music from the 12th to 20th centuries in medieval churches, outdoor piazzas, theatres, restored castles and small-town Orvieto settings.

Bradley Ulrich, the ensemble’s director and a WCU professor of trumpet, will be performing in a professional trumpet ensemble and will give trumpet clinics while in Orvieto.

The Orvieta Musica Festival was founded in 1994 and student musicians from all over the world travel to the town of Orvieto, 60 miles north of Rome. The three-week festival will include daily chamber music coaching and rehearsals, six to 12 public concerts, in-house readings, winery visits and an underground tour of Orvieto’s caves, as well as Italian language and culture classes. The summer of 2008 will mark the first time this renowned festival has included a week-long trumpet festival as part of the event.

Orvieto’s faculty has included professionals affiliated with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Conservatorio di Mantova, Mannes College of Music, the Metropolitan Opera, Pomerium, Sarah Lawrence College, Spoleto, the St. Louis Symphony, the Toledo Symphony and the University of San Diego.

“My students and I are very excited about the invitation to attend this festival in Italy,” said Ulrich. “Most of my students have never been out of the country, and I am excited they will get to meet and perform with student trumpet players from across Europe.”

The ensemble is seeking financial support to help fund this student opportunity; contact Bradley Ulrich by phone at (828) 227-3274 or by e-mail at ulrich@wcu.edu.

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Last modified: Friday, Nov. 2, 2007