Now Hear This Festival – Edmonton Saxophone Quartet and Roger Admiral

Festival Pass

Roger Admiral and the Edmonton Saxophone Quartet | 7 PM | Muttart Hall

The Program

This concert features the premiere of two solo piano works by Edmonton composers Siaw Kin Lee and William Northlich, and a substantial work The Four Seasons (after Cy Twombly) by the Australian composer Liza Lim, plus the premiere of Howard Bashaw’s work for piano with a quartet of low register saxophones.

The Artists

Pianist Roger Admiral performs music from the 17th to the 21st century, teaches piano, and collaborates with the multigenerational inclusion choir SingAble at University of Alberta, Augustana Campus. He has been guest soloist with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Südwestfundfunk Sinfonieorchester.

Other performances include the piano works of Iannis Xenakis for Vancouver New Music, and collaborations on recitals for Curto-Circuito de Música Contemporânea Brazil, Festival of Contemporary Polish Music (Wrocław), New Music Concerts (Toronto), Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, and Carnegie / Weill Hall.

The Edmonton Saxophone Quartet has been performing throughout Alberta for more than twenty-five years, striking a pleasing balance championing new works for saxophone quartet with creative interpretations of more traditional music. Their immediate musicality and warm stage presence have delighted and excited ears in expected (and some unexpected) places and they have taken a prominent place in Edmonton’s cultural life.

ESQ has commissioned and premiered a significant number of new works for saxophone quartet from Canadian and international composers and they enjoy frequent support from provincial and national government arts organizations. ESQ’s current membership is: Allison Balcetis, Kendra Heslip, Emily Schultz and Charles Stolte.

Program Notes

13 for Saxophone Quintet are thirteen shorter pieces with intriguing titles by BC composer, Howard Bashaw, U of A Professor Emeritus of Composition. The work was commissioned by ESQ and Roger Admiral with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and completed in 2020. Many premieres of this work across the world were cancelled due to the plague in the years that followed its completion and the artists are deeply grateful to New Music Edmonton for the opportunity to premiere it after a long wait.

The saxophone quartet is a non-standard “low” saxophone quartet and features as the lowest instrument the stentorian sound of the bass saxophone. The addition of piano to the quartet makes this a completely unique piece in the saxophone repertoire. The funky patterning and interruptions to groove make these pieces fun and engaging and deliciously frustrating.