Edward Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition

sponsored by TBA

For trombonists ages 25 and under (birth date of January 1, 1999 or later)

First Prize – TBA

General Requirements

Recording Guidelines

  • Applicants must strictly follow the Recording Guidelines for the 2025 ITA Solo and Ensemble Competitions.

 Competition Rules

  • The required repertoire should be submitted as a single audio file, with no editing within the submitted recording. All excerpts must be performed in the order listed. Accepted file formats include: MP3, OGG, M4A, WMA, WAV, AAC, FLAC, AIFF, AIF. Video entries are not accepted for this competition.
  • Preliminary round excerpts may be recorded separately, but there may be no editing within an individual excerpt. All selections should be recorded at the same location with the same recording setup.
  • The submitted file must not contain any identifying information. The audio file should be named: “KleinhammerEntry.mp3” (.wav, etc.)
  • Past winners of the Edward Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition are not eligible to enter the 2025 Kleinhammer competition.

Competition Repertoire

Preliminary Round

  • Hector Berlioz, The Damnation of Faust, Hungarian March, 6 bars before rehearsal [4] through two bars after rehearsal [5]
  • Joseph Haydn – The Creation, No. 26, beginning through 19th bar of rehearsal [B]
  • Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 3, beginning through 13 measures after [A]
  • Richard Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries – pickups to [3] to 2 measures before [4] AND pickups to [5] to 3 measures after [6]

Final Round

Excerpts to be chosen from Preliminary Round repertoire, and the following:

  • Richard Strauss – Ein Heldenleben, rehearsal [55] through [59] AND 2 measures after [61] through [66]
  • Zoltán Kodály – Háry János Suite, Movement 4, 5th bar of rehearsal [5] through 10th bar of rehearsal [6]
  • Ernst Sachse – Concertino for Bass Trombone, Theme and Variations section, with piano

Past Winners

Van Haney

Year Winner School
1993 Jon Etterbeek  Juilliard School of Music
1994 Darren McHenry  Juilliard School of Music
1995 Stephen Lange  Indiana University
1996 Norbert Lakzsko  Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary
1997 Mark Templeton  Guildhall School of Music, London, England
1998 Garnett Livingston  Juilliard School of Music
1999 Scott Parkinson  Juilliard School of Music
2000 Jeffrey A. Gray  Juilliard School of Music
2001 Darcio Gianelli  Juilliard School of Music
2002 Wes Citron  Manhattan School of Music
2003 Tenor – James Williams Juilliard School of Music
Bass – no winner
2004 Tenor – Robert Kastner
Bass – Dan West University of North Texas
2005 Tenor – Kyle Covington Juilliard School of Music
Bass – Matyas Veer Liszt Academy of Music-Budapest
2006 Tenor – Marques Young   Juilliard School of Music
Bass – Zachary Bond Curtis Institute of Music graduate
2007 Tenor – Mark Davidson   Juilliard School of Music
Bass – Ilan Morgenstern University of Michigan
2008 Tenor- Shachar Israel Juilliard School of Music.

Kleinhammer

Year Winner School
2008 Daniel Brady Southern Methodist University
2009 Christian Poitinger Universität für Musik, Vienna, Austria
2010 Jeremy Stones University of North Texas
2011 Raymond Flores Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico
2012 Nuno Henriques Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, The Netherlands
2013 Scott P. Hartman DePaul University
2014 Gabriel Roberson Northwestern University
2015 Scott Nguyen Northwestern University
2016 Cameron Owen University of Alabama
2017 Christopher Bassett New England Conservatory
2018 Eden Garza Texas A&M University-Kingsville
2019 Adrian Gryciuk Conservatorium van Amsterdam
2020 Co-Winner Brian Entwistle DePaul University
2020 Co-Winner Alexander Mullins University of North Texas
2020 Co-Winner Dávid Sztranyák Liszt Academy of Music-Budapest
2021 Zachary Neikens The Juilliard School
2022 Ivan Cheung The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
2023 Conor Wilson Baylor University
2024 Caleb Christiansen Rice University