"I feel lucky to get to work with these special people who live each day with dedication and purpose." - David Bilger

Congratulations to David Bilger and the Curtis Institute trumpet studio for winning first place in the Small Ensemble Division at the National Trumpet Competition! David helped coach the students on the original composition which they performed, and we reached out to him for his comments:

"The Curtis trumpet studio really showed them how it is done at the National Trumpet Competition! For the competition, there are taped preliminary auditions, and then the live Semifinals were on March 10, and the Finals were on March 12. 

"They performed a new work, Trumpet Sextet #2 by Steven Franklin, who is a member of the trumpet studio. He wrote the piece as a composition project at Curtis, and the group rehearsed on their own for a while, and then had coachings with me, Steven’s composition teacher, and the school’s memorization coach (as they played from memory). They performed it twice before the live competition: once at a Masterclass at Curtis with the American Brass Quintet, and once on the Curtis Student Recital Series."

Learn trumpet online with David Bilger at http://artistworks.com/david-bilger