Guest soloist John Coulton plays Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto in Monumental Masterpiece.
John Coulton is an international trumpet player, concert and recording artist, who has toured and performed with some of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras including the Hamburg Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Ballet Company and the London Concert Orchestra. His playing has been recorded for numerous radio and TV programs, and was featured in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Games.
John’s career highlights include a performance of the Shostakovich Concerto for Piano and Trumpet with Nikolai Demidenko at the British Proms and a solo recital at the 2010 International Trumpet Guild Conference in Sydney. He has even performed for Her Majesty the Queen on three separate occasions.
John started learning the trumpet when he was 8 years old, following in his sister’s footsteps. “I thought it was very cool,” John remarked. He studied at The Queensland Conservatorium with Yoram Levy, where he learnt to develop his own style and trumpet artistry through years of intense work. He went on to do a Masters degree and studied with various teachers in the UK, France, Germany and the United States.
John is currently enjoying a busy freelance career with the Queensland Symphony orchestra and the Camerata of St. Johns, among others, as well as teaching the trumpet students at All Saints Anglican School at the Gold Coast.
The NRSO was one of John’s performance avenues when he was studying at the Conservatorium. After living and working overseas for nearly 12 years, John returned to Queensland in 2012 and reunited with the orchestra. “It is a great opportunity to play with the NRSO once again and support this great organization,” John said.
For Monumental Masterpiece concert, John will be playing the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, which he says is one of the quintessential pieces of music in the Trumpet repertoire. “It was written for the brand new ‘Keyed Trumpet’ invented in 1796, without which the modern Valved Trumpets that we use today may never have evolved to their present form,” John explained. “The piece demonstrates the newly acquired chromaticism of the keyed trumpet and regularly blends beautiful lyrical lines with fanfare type motives which were commonplace in the trumpets of old.”
So what are some of the major features to listen out for? “The second movement is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written for the Trumpet,” John reflected, “and the Third movement contains many technical challenges, and potential pitfalls, for the trumpet player!”