Trombone spectacular at the Citta di Porcia Competition

Competitions

9 December 2023

Launy Grøndahl and Nino Rota at the orchestra finals

Born in Budapest and studying in Hannover, trombonist Botond Drahos is the winner of the 2023 edition of the 'City of Porcia' International Brass Competition, followed by Tim Ouwejan and Roberto de la Guis Martínez.

The 33rd edition of the "City of Porcia" International Competition, which this year was held in the trombone category, ended on the evening of Saturday, November 4. After a week of intense preliminary rounds that saw 47 competitors from all over the world compete (60 entrants with 21 nations represented, of which 47 showed up in Pordenone for the first round of the Competition), the three finalists took turns on the stage of the great hall of the Teatro Verdi in Pordenone for the last decisive round, accompanied by the FVG Orchestra and conductor Massimiliano Caldi, a very active musician with wide international experience.

Roberto de la Guía Martínez and Botond Drahos chose to perform the Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra by Danish composer Launy Grøndahl, while Tim Ouwejan performed the Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra by Nino Rota, a composer best known for his artistic association with director Federico Fellini.

At the conclusion of the Final Round, the audience in the auditorium had the opportunity to express their preference for the Audience Award. The jury , chaired by Andrea Bandini (Italy), was composed of Michel Bequet, Indalecio Bonet Manrique, Jonas Bylund, Fabrice Millischer, Daniele Morandini and Helen Vollam.

After concerns due to the state of emergency brought about by the adverse weather conditions, which threatened to cause the final concert to be cancelled, Jury President and Artistic Director of the Competition Giampaolo Doro expressed his satisfaction both with the high quality of the participants, whose presence confirms the importance of this event at the international level, and with the presence of the audience in all the preliminary rounds. Artistic Director Doro also pointed out the presence in the hall at the Final with orchestra of some competitors eliminated in the previous stages who, although they came from far away, decided to stay until the end of the Competition in order to be able to attend all stages of the event.

Botond Drahos was born in 2003 and graduated from the Budapest Conservatory of Music in 2022. He is currently attending the Hochschule Für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover under the guidance of Jonas Bylund. Since 2018 he has won several first prizes in International Competitions, a special prize at the Michel Becquet International Competition and an honorable mention at the IMC Prague Spring Competition. He constantly collaborates with several German orchestras.

Tim Owejan was born in 2000 and graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music under Maestro Jörgen van Rijen in 2022. He is the winner of first prizes in several international trombone competitions. He participates in several masterclasses given by internationally renowned teachers. He has gained experience in several orchestras.

Roberto De La Guia Martinez was born in 1995 and began studying trombone at the age of eight with maestro Miguel Antonio Gonzalez. He graduated in 2018 from the Albacete Conservatory of Music and continued his studies under maestro Fabrice Millischer at the Freiburg Musikhochschule where he graduated in 2023. He has gained experience in several orchestras and is currently trombone soloist at the Konzerthausorchester in Berlin. He is frequently invited as trombone soloist in several orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Alicante Orchestra, and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra.