More than 300 young people of 15 different nationalities will participate in the different activities taught by leading professionals.
The 7th International Meeting of Women Trumpet Players will feature Costa Rican Ivania Picado, Catalan Elsa Armengou, and Canarian Sheila López.
The program includes the 10th Orchestral Repertoire Competition, the Youth Festival, a series of concerts, conferences, and social and environmental action activities.
The 13th Maspalomas International Trumpet Festival will bring together, from July 19 to XNUMX, some of the best trumpet players in the world in their specialty, such as Jeroen Berwaerts (Belgium), Matthias Hofs (Germany), Clement Saunier (France), Gabriele Cassone (Italy), Benny Benack (United States) and the Spaniards Marcos García Vaquero, Carlos Benetó and Ernesto Chuliá.
The program presentation featured speeches by Marco Aurelio Pérez Sánchez, Mayor of San Bartolomé de Tirajana; Carlos Álamo Cabrera, Tourism Councilor of the Gran Canaria Island Council; Elena Álamo Vega, Councilor for the Presidency, Human Resources, Culture, Equality, Youth, and Education of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council; and José Vicente Araña, Artistic Coordinator of the Maspalomas International Trumpet Festival.
In his speech, Marco Aurelio Pérez stated that this is an important event for the municipality, where culture and music go hand in hand. He highlighted the presence of some of the best trumpet players on the international scene, as well as Gran Canarian musicians Sebastián Gil and José Vicente Araña. The mayor invited the population and residents of the municipality to enjoy the program, which will begin on July 13 with the opening concert on the esplanade of the Maspalomas Lighthouse.
Carlos Álamo, representing the Tourism Department of the Gran Canaria Island Council, congratulated the festival's management and organization team "for the high-quality lineup of instructors and the concert series, featuring some of the world's best trumpet players."
The island councilor stated that "thanks to the consolidated offering of this Festival, Gran Canaria is once again capturing the attention of music, culture, education, and knowledge lovers in this field. The combination of everything—the music, the educational aspect, the fun and good atmosphere, and the tourism infrastructure that supports it—allows us, at Gran Canaria Tourism, to project a very positive image of our destination, of our cultural summer, and to raise the profile of our tourism brand internationally as a modern destination with a rich, curated, and varied leisure and cultural offering, which is of great interest to our visitors as well as our residents."
For her part, Elena Álamo emphasized that this Festival, which celebrates 18 years of existence, "has a great impact, with the attendance of students from both Spain and abroad, which each year positions San Bartolomé de Tirajana within the European cultural panorama, through the trumpet. A festival that brings together more than 300 students and the best professionals from different countries, who find in Maspalomas a place for training, culture, and the development of talent."
José Vicente Araña noted that this festival, which features the trumpet as its protagonist, "has a great international impact, promoting both Maspalomas and Gran Canaria."
The artistic coordinator of the Maspalomas International Trumpet Festival emphasized that more than 300 young people from more than 15 different nationalities will participate in the training program, having filled the places for classes taught by a cast of distinguished world-class trumpet players. Participants will come to Maspalomas from Germany, Belgium, France, the United States, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Portugal, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Ukraine. As a new feature this year, an "Outlet" space will be inaugurated, where young people and musicians can sell or exchange instruments or accessories.
Series of concerts and activities
The main festival venue will be the ExpoMeloneras complex, in addition to other venues, such as the El Salvador Ecumenical Temple, the 19th Hole Meloneras Jazz Club, the Maspalomas Lighthouse, and Tony Gallardo Park. These are unique spaces where the public can experience music from the perspective of the trumpet, in all its styles. This festival has been directed, since its inception, by Sebastián Gil, an international trumpet player from Gran Canaria and professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias.
The Festival will offer a series of first-class concerts, with a wide range of styles and prestigious ensembles, where the trumpet is the star performer, such as the Gran Canaria Big Band, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, and Spanish Brass, accompanied by great soloists such as Matthias Hofs, Jeroen Berwaerts, Clement Saunier, and Benny Benack III.
In addition to the concerts and master classes, the program includes parallel activities, including the 7th International Meeting of Women Trumpet Players, featuring Costa Rican Ivania Picado, Catalan Elsa Armengou, and Canarian Sheila López.
The program will be complemented by the 10th Orchestral Repertoire Competition, the Youth Festival, and a series of conferences, as well as a section for social action, itinerant, and environmental activities, to bring the festival to places with less access to culture and raise public awareness about environmental protection through culture.
The groups and performers
The most outstanding performers in this edition are Benny Benack III, one of the great jazz musicians of the New York scene, and Mathias Hofs, who together with the Spanish Brass will star in one of the great concerts of the Festival, as well as the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied by relevant artists such as Jeroen Berwaerts and the French Clement Saunier, leaders of the European trumpet.
The program will feature a concert called "Trumpet In Memoriam," held at the Ecumenical Temple, dedicated to prominent deceased trumpet players, which will be a tribute to their musical work.
The national presence will be represented by the brass group 'Spanish Brass'; Marcos García Vaquero, from the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor at the Teatro Real; Ernesto Chuliá, professor at the José Iturbi Professional Music Conservatory in Valencia; Carlos Benetó, a member of 'Spanish Brass'; and the entire trumpet section of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. Also noteworthy is the participation of Elsa Armengou, a young Catalan jazz trumpeter and member of the prestigious Sant Andreu Jazz Band.
