NPP FOT Ensemble
The Non-Pro Player Committee provides Non-Pro/Comeback players with the opportunity to have visible support in the organization. A portion of that is afforded by providing Non-Pro/Comeback players with the opportunity to perform in an ensemble at each ITG conference during the Festival of Trumpets. There is significant interaction and healthy communication when players work together toward a common performance goal.
CALLING ALL NON-PRO/COMEBACK PLAYERS: Register at https://www.itgconference.org/2022-festival-of-trumpets/ to play the world premiere of "Undercurrents" by Gregory van der Struik in the Festival of Trumpets Non-Pro/Comeback Player Ensemble, directed by Seretta Hart, at the 2022 ITG Conference.
Gregory van der Struik currently enjoys a busy career as an orchestral and solo trombonist. He has held the position of Principal Trombone with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra since 1987 and has been active as a soloist and composer in Australia, China, and Europe.
Greg’s compositions have previously been played at ITG Conferences:
- ITG 2008 Welzheim Processional (Banff, Alberta, Canada Festival of Trumpets opener)
- ITG 2013 Concertino for Trumpet and Trombone played by Brian and Tom Burge (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
“Undercurrents” was composed for 10 Bb trumpets in December 2019 for the cancelled 2020 ITG conference and since the 2021 conference was virtual, the premiere of Undercurrents was postponed to be premiered by the Non-Pro Player Ensemble at the 2022 conference in San Antonio, Texas. Greg provided his composition with the following comments:
“My aim was to provide interesting material for all 10 parts with the thematic material being distributed throughout the group. From the earliest there was a concept of waves or wavelike movement. This is in the music and evident to the audience by the way in which the material moves to various parts of the group. Given the active material under the melody I have titled the work Undercurrents..
The piece is a little over 6 minutes and while there are semiquaver passages the tempo is slow – quarter note = 60. The range extends from low G in the bottom trumpets to high C in the 1st trumpet. I have tried to be mindful of range and space material evenly and not too long for individual parts. Melodic material does often include G on top of the stave moving to A and some occasional B’s.”
Listen to an MP3/MIDI version of the piece on SoundCloud.
Previous ITG Conference Non-Pro Players Ensembles at Festival of Trumpets:
2019 Miami, Florida – directed by Seretta Hart - 17 players in the premiere of Jason Dovel's The Legend of Pandora for 10 Bb trumpets
2018 San Antonio, Texas – directed by Seretta Hart - 14 players in premiere of Kody Euteneier's Prelude and Fugue on a Theme by Herbert L. Clarke for 6 Bb trumpets
2017 Hershey, Pennsylvania – directed by David Brown - 27 players in the premiere of James Olcott's The Standard (a Sousa-style march using the Hayden Concerto as the seed) for 10 trumpets
2016 Anaheim, California – directed by David Brown – 18 players in the premiere of David Marlatt’s Windscape for 1 Bb piccolo trumpet, 6 Bb trumpets and 3 Bb flugelhorns
2015 Columbus, Ohio – directed by David Brown - 28 players in Eric Morales’ Within Sacred Walls for 6 trumpets and the premiere of Wesley Nance’s A Brief Adventure for 10 trumpets
2014 Valley Forge, Pennsylvania – directed by Kevin Eisensmith - 30 players in David Marlatt’s 15-part Festival Fanfare
2013 Grand Rapids, Michigan – directed by David Brown - 32 players in a premiere of David Brown’s arrangement of Gabrieli’s Canzona noni toni a 12 for 12 trumpets and Kevin McKee’s Durrenhorn Passage for 6 trumpets
2012 Columbus, Georgia – directed by David Brown –18 players in premiere of David Brown’s arrangement of Gabrieli’s Septimi toni a 8, No. 2 for 8 trumpets