Tico Trumpeter in Int’l Competition

A COSTA Rican trumpeter is one offive semi-finalists invited to compete inthe 2004 Ellsworth Smith InternationalSolo Trumpet Competition this week inBirmingham, Alabama. Carlos Araya,from Alajuela, northwest of San José,stands to win a first-place prize of $10,000or a second-place prize of $5,000 in anevent that has drawn notable trumpetersfrom around the world.He was invited to compete after submittingan unedited recording of his musicfor evaluation, and will stand off againstfour other musicians, two from the UnitedStates, one from Canada and the fourthfrom Hungary, in this major internationalcompetition. It is held every four yearsand is co-sponsored by the InternationalTrumpet Guild and the ColumbusFoundation of Ohio.Araya is one of Costa Rica’s most distinguishedplayers of classical and Latinmusic for the trumpet. He has played inensemble and solo before audiencesaround the world, including in Venezuela,Sweden, Japan, Puerto Rico and theUnited States. He started his musical trainingat the Conservatorio Castella, later atthe University of Costa Rica, then earneda Master of Music from Loyola Universityin New Orleans. Presently he is SecondTrumpet with the Costa Rican NationalSymphonic Orchestra and teaches at theNational Institute of Music.The International Trumpet Guild is aworldwide association of more than 7,000trumpeters from more than 60 countries.For more information see UAB’s newsupdate on the Web at www.uab.edu/news.