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ITG 2008 Conference Blog

Attention Conference Delegates!

Use this site to post your thoughts and reactions to the ITG 2008 Conference events and concerts. Please file your posts in the threads that correspond with the day the event occured listed under Conference Performances on the left. All posts will be moderated by the ITG Web Site Team. BIG thanks to Todd Davidson and The Trumpet Herald for hosting this conference blog!

Michael Anderson - ITG Web Site Director

Editor’s Summary
On this, the last day of the conference, we all awoke to a different world based on all that we had experienced over the last four days. If you have not read and reread Elisa Koehler’s excellent description of Sergei Nakariakov’s playing on the Wednesday night concert, I urge you to do so. No one in attendance will likely ever forget the experience. So many superlatives are used carelessly in today’s world, but language can be quite frustrating in describing the gift Mr. Nakariakov gave us in his unforgettable performance of the Haydn Concerto for Cello. Elisa has done a magnificent job of catching the essence of what we all heard, so pay close attention to her words.

The last day of any conference is a bit melancholy for me as I see people begin to put things in order for the journey home. Still, I was able to steal away for two hours this morning and climb Tunnel Mountain with Neville Young and take in the stunning panoramas of Banff and the surrounding area. I want to imprint as much of these days as I can on my brain because I know that I will want to recall these sights and sounds in the days and months ahead. Enjoy today’s stories and please plan now to save the dates for next year’s conference (May 26 – 30, 2009) in Harrisburg, PA when we’ll meet again and do this all over with William Stowman, Rebecca Wilt, and a cast of hundreds!

Click here for the day’s full report!

Editor’s Summary
After the rain of Tuesday afternoon and evening, we are thankful for better weather today. The shear number of events so far has been staggering. Jens Lindemann has brought together a huge number of artists for this conference and we are all benefiting from his efforts to bring so many musicians to Banff. If the reports you have read so far give you some idea of the great wealth of opportunities available here this week, then read on through today’s reports so that you can see how the 2008 Conference continues to unfold in quantity, variety, and quality. One more thought, while ITG’s leaders worried that Banff might be a tough draw from an affordability standpoint, a very high percentage of performances are packed to the rafters with attendees. It’s gratifying to see that so many have made attending this year’s conference a high priority with their presence here in Banff. Thank you for coming!
- Gary Mortenson

Click here for full report

Editor’s Summary
After an extremely late night Monday (that indeed went into Tuesday), ITG was ready for another day of activity, and that’s just what followed. There is so much to hear, learn, and absorb that conferences can get a little overwhelming. This year we are lucky in the sense that all you have to do is walk outside of any venue and the mountains loom large helping all of us keep things in perspective. After several hours of non-stop events, you could see people filtering off into the woods and others coming back from a jaunt into town or from a short hike in the nearby woods…looking a little better from the momentary relief of so much sound.

I’m always amazed at how closely-knit the trumpet community is in today’s shrinking world. It’s always interesting to see total strangers make connections by simply mentioning a former student, colleague, friend, classmate, or teacher. ITG 08 is a celebration of this small niche in the larger fabric of humanity. Enjoy reading all the posts from this, the second full day of the conference!
- Gary Mortenson

Click here for full report!

Editor’s Summary
Monday featured a wide variety of sessions including the traditional warm up hour, master classes, chamber music, solo recitals, lectures, the Orchestral Excerpts Competition, and the evening concert that featured the Italian Wonderbrass Quintet and a big band concert paying tribute to Doc Severinsen. I know that you’ll enjoy the conference reports that document the wonderful variety of the day’s activities. Any worries about attendance at this year’s conference have been totally laid to rest with the large number of people in attendance. Indeed one of the biggest challenges this first day has been getting to sessions early enough to secure a seat as many of the venues are overflowing as we all scamper for the best seats in the various performance locations.
- Gary Mortenson

Editor’s Summary

After two days of meetings, those of us that came early to the conference were more than ready to be done with talking and get to the reason we all converged on Banff. It was time to hear the results of so much effort to bring the 33rd ITG Conference to Banff, a place of natural majesty and beauty. - Gary Mortenson, ITG Publications Editor

June 1 Conference Reports