2026 Adjudicators

Trumpeter Aaron Hodgson has been praised for his “exquisite musicianship and assured composure” (International Trumpet Guild) and his “outstanding lyrical trumpet playing” (Hartford Courant). A prize-winner in the Ellsworth Smith and OSM Standard Life competitions, Aaron has been broadcast nationally by CBC Radio and featured as a concerto soloist with l'Orchestre de la Francophonie at Canada's National Arts Centre. His debut solo CD inner voice was released on Blue Griffin Recordings in 2017.

Aaron is an active orchestral musician and has performed under the batons of renowned conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Neeme Järvi and Sir Neville Marriner, and with orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and the New Jersey Sympony Orchestra. He can be heard on Naxos and Analekta records as principal trumpet for recordings of Bach's Magnificat, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms.

As a solo and chamber artist, Aaron is committed to expanding the trumpet's capabilities and introducing audiences to new music. He has commissioned or premiered dozens of new works featuring trumpet and presented engaging, multimedia performances at the Banff Centre and the Sound Symposium Festival. He has frequently performed chamber music as a member of the Carnyx Trio, Reverb Brass and the Reveille Trumpet Collective.

Aaron is a sought-after teacher and is Associate Professor at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, Western University, where he was a Teaching Fellow during 2022-25. Aaron holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University.