Selina Ott, the ITG & three days in L.A.
Back row, camera to my eye, aperture wide open, and up front Selina takes a breath. Anaheim, late May 2024, the 48th conference of the International Trumpet Guild — the one place where, once a year, half the trumpet world gathers in a single room.
Selina Ott is on stage for her recital; I'm standing in the half-dark, trying to catch the moment before the first note. That's exactly what we flew out here for.
When the last note faded, the hall rose to its feet. A standing ovation in front of about the most demanding audience imaginable — trumpeters from all over the world, listening to every detail.
And the celebration afterwards was suitably grand: three slices of chocolate cake. Some triumphs you simply have to taste.
The trip was a Schagerl affair. We were there with our own instrument exhibit — Schagerl among trumpeters from all over the world — and Selina came along as our Schagerl artist.
Karli and I flew out to support: he for the booth and the conversations, I to document the whole thing photographically. Plus a video interview with Selina that I — tsk, tsk — still haven't finished editing to this day. It's coming. I promise.
Once the conference wrapped, the part that wasn't on the schedule began. Selina had never been to Los Angeles, and a journey that long deserves a payoff. So Karli and I stayed on for a few days and walked her, at high speed, through the must-do list of a city you can never really see in three days — but can at least scratch the surface of.
The opening stop was the finest of the whole trip: Laguna Beach. Willie Murillo had invited us to brunch right on the coast, before we'd even set off towards Hollywood — trumpeters hosted by a trumpeter, the Pacific as our table neighbour. You don't plan a morning like that; it's a gift.
I'd booked us a room at the legendary Hollywood Roosevelt, the hotel that hosted the very first Academy Awards back in 1929. You don't so much stay in a room there as in a piece of film history.
From there we walked the Walk of Fame, star by star, heads down, the way everyone does it here.
Then the essentials: In-N-Out Burger, because in California that's not a meal, it's a rite of passage. Sunset Boulevard, up and back down. The Original Farmers Market. And Gold's Gym in Venice — the gym where modern bodybuilding was more or less invented.
And in between, again and again, a Ben & Jerry's, because three days of LA in that heat simply don't work without ice cream.
The arc back to the beginning closed at Santa Monica Pier in the afternoon — Ferris wheel, roller coaster, beach, the Pacific. We worked our way through and ended up at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. The trumpet had gone into its case for a few days; the eye stayed wide awake.
The video interview with Selina, by the way, is still on my editing timeline. When it's done, it lands right here.
Photography & video: Oliver Kendl. The trip took place as part of my work for Schagerl Music GmbH; Selina Ott is a Schagerl artist. Also on board: Karli Essletzbichler.
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