One Day Saxophone Festival
London - Saturday 4th June 2016
Ian Stewart writes:
In Notting Hill, London on Saturday, 4th June (2016)
there is a one day festival, organised by saxophone player Kyle Horch, concert
promoter Richard Carruthers, and myself, celebrating the classical saxophone in
chamber music. There are now more pieces being written for saxophone in less
usual ensembles and more players performing these pieces. However these works
are rarely heard in recitals, hence the reason for this festival.
Most of these pieces are original works for saxophone.
There are two works by Berlin composer Christian Biegai, a classical saxophone
player himself who also played with Antony and the Johnsons; two works by
London based Australian composer John Carmichael, a new work for EWI wind
synthesizer by Charlotte Harding, and four works by myself.
Hayley Lambert has been giving concerts under the title
of “The Poetic Saxophone” for sometime, with Aileen Thomson, soprano voice, and
pianist Paul Taylor. The repertoire for voice and saxophone is still small and
Hayley has managed to track down most of them. In this recital, besides the
English language settings, Aileen will also be singing in Catalan.
Naomi Sullivan will be performing with viola, tape and
piano in various combinations, including the U.K. premiere of Biegai’s TV
Nation, for soprano saxophone, piano and recordings of American TV channel
hopping. She will also be premiering the revised version of my work “Transit Of
Venus” for soprano saxophone, pre-recorded voice and electronics. This work was
commissioned for Naomi at the time of the real transit of venus in 2012.
The festival begins with a more traditional saxophone and
piano recital by Kyle Horch, who then leads Flotilla in the fourth recital.
Flotilla’s repertoire explores reflection, echo, and memory, in mainly
contemporary works drawing upon antecedents such as liturgical polyphony and
folk music.
Alistair Parnell will be giving a recital for
unaccompanied EWI wind synthesizer. Although the keyboard synthesizer is now
being used in classical music, this is a rare chance to hear the wind version.
The festival finishes with Andy Tweed and Karen Street performing an original
jazz set with saxophone and free-bass accordion.
Pianists Pavel Timofeyevsky and Yshani Perinpanayagam
will be playing with both Naomi and Kyle, and Naomi’s recital also features
Katya Lazareva playing viola and Alistair Parnell sound projection.
The festival runs from 2-9 pm.
