Hrvatski

Extraordinary Concert with Four Tubas and a Trumpet Thrills Audience

Date created: 01.08.2014.

The audience enjoyed remakes of Mozart’s Overture from the Magic Flute, Bach’s Contrapunctus IX and Haydn’s Achieved is The Glorious Work from the oratory “The Creation”, which proved wrong prejudices about the tuba as merely a background instrument. The marvelous Eric Aubier shone as he performed Albinoni’s Concerto in B-Flat Major for Trumpet demonstrating his impressive top trumpeter skills. The second part of the concert saw performers presenting various compositions of contemporary authors, therefore contrasting the first part of the concert. The evening was concluded with an appealing potpourri of famous French melodies arranged by Jean-Philippe Vanbeselaer, upon which the audience awarded them with a grand applause.

The XL Tuba Quartet was founded in 2002 as the first chamber ensemble of its kind in this region. Since the tuba is generally considered an orchestral instrument, members Viktor Kirčenkov, Aleksandar Benčić, Krunslav Babić and Jurica Ruklić wished to present the instrument as a chamber, even a solo instrument. The ensemble’s broad repertoire includes works by old masters, Classical and Romanic works, as well as the works of contemporary composers and jazz pieces. Members of the Quartet are professionally engaged on soloist positions in leading Croatian orchestras. Visiting soloist Eric Aubier started studying in the class of Maurice Andrea already at the age of fourteen at the Paris music conservatory, where he, at the time, was the youngest graduate to win three first place prizes. Ever since winning countless awards at international competitions in Prague, Toulon and Paris as a 19-year-old, Aubier has been engaged as a solo trumpeter in the Paris opera’s orchestra and has met continued success.