KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ
VEDRAN KOCELJ, trumpet
&
KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ, piano
KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ
VEDRAN KOCELJ, trumpet
&
KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ, piano
Suggested Program:
20th Century Sonatas for Trumpet and Piano
Stjepan Šulek: Soanta for trumpet and piano, “At the sunset”
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Sonata Pomposa, for trumpet and piano, op. 179 no. 1
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Paul Hindemith: Sonata for trumpet and piano
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Sonata leggera for trumpet and piano, op. 179 no. 2
One of the leading Croatian trumpet players, Vedran Kocelj (Cavtat, 1977) received his musical education at the Luka Sorkočević Art School in Dubrovnik under Nino Obradović and at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he graduated in the class of Stanko Arnold.
Since 1998, he has been employed as a solo trumpet player in the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside his work in the orchestra, he works as a soloist and chamber musician. He also shows the breadth of his musical interests by playing music from different periods, which is why he perfects the skill of playing a number of related instruments such as natural trumpet, piccolo trumpet, cornet… The versatile musician has collaborated with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble since its foundation. He has been a member of the Cantus ensemble specializing in contemporary music since the very beginning of its activity, which dates back to 2001. For five years of its existence, he played in the Croatian Brass Quintet and performed with it in Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and China. Together with soprano Monika Cerovčec and organist Pavlo Mašić, he is a member of Trio Seraphim, with whom he regularly, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media, holds concerts throughout Croatia, as well as in a duo with pianist Krešimir Starčević.
The wide range of his solo repertoire includes some of the most demanding concertos for this instrument such as those written by André Jolivet, Michael Haydn, Johann Sebastian Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto and Matthias Pintscher’s Chute d’etoiles. Known as a promoter of music by Croatian authors, as part of the 27th Zagreb Music Biennale he performed the world premiere of Milko Kelemen’s composition Tromberia with the Zagreb Philharmonic and conductor Luca Pfaff, which was greeted with acclamations by the critics and the composer himself. He was one of the three soloists at the premiere of Berislav Šipuš’s Second Zagreb Concert commissioned by the Zagreb Soloists ensemble. In addition, he made a studio recording for the needs of the Croatian Radio program and performed Bruno Bjelinski’s Serenade for Trumpet, Piano, Strings and Percussion several times, as well as the first complete version of Boris Papandopoulos’ Concertino for Trumpet, Strings and Timpani. He made both recordings accompanied by the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mladen Tarbuk.
As a soloist, he performed at all the most important music festivals in Croatia: Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Osor Music Evenings, Musical Evenings in St. Donat, the Samobor Musical Autumn… In addition to regular performances with the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, he has given solo concerts with almost all Croatian orchestras: the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Wind Orchestra of the Croatian Armed Forces, the Orchestra of the Croatian National Theater in Split, the Zagreb Soloists, the Varaždin chamber orchestra, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, Split Chamber Orchestra, Cantus Ensemble, Accoustic Project… and a number of foreign ones: Slovak Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra from Zurich, Cappella Istropolitana, Georgian Chamber Orchestra from Ingolstadt under the direction of conductors including Nikša Bareza, Mladen Tarbuk, Tomislav Fačini, Ivan Repušić, Tonči Bilić, Ivo Lipanović, Howard Griffiths, Ariel Zuckermann, Mimi Mitchell… On several occasions he shared the solo podium with world-renowned artists: trumpeters Stanko Arnold, Eric Aubier and Gábor Boldozcki and pianist Martina Filjak.