Sax-Ecosse

Saxophone quartet

Saturday 24 October 2009 • 7.30pm
Stewart's Hall, Huntly (map)

Tickets £8.00, £5.00 (concession), free (schoolchildren)
available from Deveron Arts, Brander Library, Orb's Bookshop, Rizza's shop, or at the door

Sax-Ecosse

Jean-Baptiste Singelée	Premier quatuor, op.53 (1857)
Alexander Glazunov	Saxophone Quartet in B flat, op.109 (1932)
INTERVAL
Edward McGuire	Hidden Dialects (2009)
David Maslanka	Recitation Book (2006)

Sax-Ecosse Andrew Somerville (soprano saxophone) Michelle Melvin (alto saxophone) Karen Dufour (tenor saxophone) Lynsey Payne (baritone saxophone)

Sax-Ecosse presents a programme charting the history of the saxophone quartet from the early stages of the ensemble in 1857 through to Edward McGuire's 2009 work commissioned for Sax-Ecosse by Enterprise Music Scotland.

Sax-Ecosse is a young, vibrant saxophone quartet enjoying considerable success as a chamber ensemble within the UK and Europe. Currently they are recipients of the Enterprise Music Scotland Residency Project, and are members of the prestigious Live Music Now! scheme founded by Yehudi Menuhin. Recent performances include the 14th World Saxophone Congress, Slovenia; St Olav's Festival, Norway; and festivals and music societies throughout Scotland. With their unique combination of classical music and light jazz, Sax-Ecosse have entertained audiences as diverse as President Bill Clinton, schools and retirement communities.

Graduates of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music, the members enjoy a diverse and varied career outwith the quartet including orchestral work with the Royal Scottish National Orchestral, Southbank Sinfonia, Telford New Symphony Orchestra, instrumental teaching in local schools, and outreach music projects with Aberdeen City Music School, Feis nan Gaidheal and Drake Music Project Scotland.

In 2005 Sax-Ecosse won the prestigious Governor's Recital Prize and the Mary D. Adams Prize for Chamber Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. The Quartet were also finalists in Saxtet Publication's Saxophone Quartet Competition and performed at the British Saxophone Congress 2005.

Sax-Ecosse has been given generous assistance from the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, The Cross Trust, Scottish International Educational Trust, and The Hope Scott Trust allowing them to further their development as a quartet with the pioneering Rascher Saxophone Quartet and the virtuoso saxophonist Dr Frederick Hemke.