Our Story

Twelve cubic meters of air are moved by humans every day while breathing. In about 20,000 breaths. How would it be to send this amount of air around the world? And not silently, as we know it from breathing, but as a sound? Could this sound be translated into the many different languages of the world, and could it be used to spread a musical and social message?

Under the direction of Folkwang trumpet professor Laura Vukobratović and the internationally renowned trumpeter Marco Blaauw, an outstanding festival program has been created with numerous concerts, workshops, lectures, and discussion formats.

Over the course of six festival days, musicians, students, teachers, and scholars from various continents will come together digitally and on-site to make the trumpet and other lip-reed instruments resound. At the same time, the Global Trumpets Festival will shed light on many exciting aspects of the trumpet: from different playing styles to the underrepresentation of women and diversity in the professional scene.

Guests include luminaries of the international trumpet scene such as Bruce Dickey, Peter Evans, Mireia Farrés, Reinhold Friedrich, Mazen Kerbaj, Rajesh Mehta, Wadada Leo Smith, Taylor Ho Bynum, and John Wallace. The public is invited to experience the trumpet and its related instruments in their entire spectrum – from jazz to classical to early and new music to genre-bending styles.

The Global Trumpets Festival is an event of the Folkwang University of the Arts in cooperation with Global Trumpets UG, supported by the RAG Foundation, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Kunststiftung NRW, and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.