The Toronto Saxophone Collective will likely be presenting their annual Might live performance, titled Printemps, on Might 16. The live performance takes place on the School Avenue United Church.
Right here’s a take a look at this system, which incorporates quite a lot of works each written and organized for the saxophone, and a world premiere by a Canadian composer.
Toronto Sax Collective: Printemps
The highlight of the live performance will likely be Ibert’s Concertino, that includes soloist Bingchen He. The efficiency will likely be carried out by Toronto-based conductor, educator, and arranger Shawn Bennett.
Jacques Ibert: Concertino da digital camera
Jacques Ibert wrote his Concertino de digital camera for alto saxophone and 11 devices in 1935. The Saxophone Collective will likely be performing an association for an all-sax ensemble. The piece is written with two contrasting actions, and is characterised by its use of the total vary of the saxophone, together with its highest pitches. It combines lyrical passages with difficult ones, technical brilliance with expressive energy.
On the time it was written, the saxophone was simply gaining acceptance as an orchestral instrument, and piece has since turn out to be a cornerstone of sax repertoire.
Bingchen He
A local of Beijing, China, Bingchen He’s now primarily based in Toronto. He’s been enjoying the saxophone because the age of eight, specializing within the alto and soprano devices, and graduated with a Bachelor’s diploma in Classical Saxophone Efficiency from the College of Toronto. He received first prize on the Qingdao Xiao Jin Zhong competitors in 2016, and in 2022, received the College of Toronto Wind Ensemble competitors. In November 2024, he took residence third prize on the OSM (Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) Competitors.
The live performance additionally encompasses a world premiere, Aphonia, commissioned by the Toronto Saxophone Collective from composer Elienna Wang.
Elienna Wang: Aphonia (2025) World Premiere
Aphonia refers back to the situation of dropping or having no voice. Whereas technically, the time period could seek advice from a situation with bodily roots, right here, it’s extra about having phrases you need to converse, however not having the ability to voice them.
The work was composed for one voice soloist, one sopranino saxophone, two soprano saxophones, three alto and three tenor saxophones, one baritone, and one bass saxophone.
Toronto-based composer Elienna Wang writes in her notes, “I composed this composition for 12 saxophones for the Toronto Saxophone Collective for his or her Might 2025 live performance. My writing course of was a lot impressed by the Toronto Saxophone Collective’s College of Toronto New Music Pageant live performance in January 2025, and my newly discovered curiosity in designing dynamic audio techniques for video video games.”
Wang has composed live performance, online game, and movie music. She is at present finding out composition on the College of Toronto. Latest work embody her artwork music, Rosé Leaves, recorded and launched as a part of the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s Songs of Hope album, the January 2025 premiere of her mini-opera, All Issues Come House at Eventide, by the College of Toronto’s Opera division, the February 2025 premiere of her choral work, “海阔天空” with the Kupenta Singers, and the premiere of her percussion duo, Doubt, by the KöNG Duo in April 2025.
Shawn Bennett conducts.
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn(1873), organized by Blake Smith
College of Toronto graduate Blake Smith created the association, and Yu Wang conducts this work, as we speak typically often known as the St. Anthony Variations or Variations on the St. Anthony Chorale.
In 1870, Brahms’ pal Carl Ferdinand Pohl, who was the librarian of the Vienna Philharmonic Society, confirmed the composer a transcription he’d made from a chunk that was attributed to Haydn referred to as Divertimento No. 1. The second motion had the title St. Anthony Chorale, and it’s from this piece that Brahms took the theme which he then works into a number of variations.
Because it seems, the piece was most likely written by Ignaz Pleyel, though there isn’t any definitive proof. Nonetheless, within the coda of the finale, Brahms quotes a special passage of Haydn, taken from his Clock Symphony. Yu Wang conducts.
Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of Animals (1922), organized by Blake Smith
Whereas it’s one in every of his finest recognized items as we speak, Camille Saint-Saëns refused to permit the general public efficiency of his The Carnival of Animals as a result of he felt that its whimsical nature would undermine his status as a critical composer. That’s why it wasn’t printed till 1922 — a 12 months after his dying.
In Blake Smith’s association, the saxophones recreate the technical results that characterize the piece. Shawn Bennett conducts.
Lili Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps (1918), organized by Blake Smith
Lili Boulanger, youthful sister to famend trainer Nadia, was the primary lady to win the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her expertise was acknowledged very early, and at 5, she was tagging alongside to Nadia’s composition lessons. She received the Prix de Rome in 1913, at age 19, however was already tormented by ailing well being, which had compelled her to withdraw from the competitors a 12 months earlier. Tragically, intestinal tuberculosis would take her life on the younger age of 24.
She composed her D’un matin de printemps throughout the previous couple of months of her life, together with a companion piece titled D’un soir triste (“Of a Unhappy Night”). Regardless of her younger age, the compositional voice is mature, and explores tone colors and harmonies.
Yu Wang conducts.
Personnel: Musicians
- Sopranino Saxophone: Christopher Jones
- Soprano Saxophone: Nathan Chun; Christopher Jones; Jason Lau; Yunfei Xie
- Alto Saxophone: Jacob Armstrong; Samuel Chen; Bingchen He; Robert Hess; Chantelle Tom-Ying
- Tenor Saxophone: Harrison Argatoff; Kannan Bloor; Peter Gilli; Benjamin Liu; Jack Smith; Dylan Windsor
- Baritone Saxophone: Kun Huang; Min Gu Kang
- Bass Saxophone: Blake Smith
- Vocalist: Sofia Radenko
The live performance takes place 7 p.m. at School Avenue United Church (452 School St.) with a Pay-What-You-Can on the door coverage. Data right here.
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 many years, and a inventive writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
