8th June 2011

It is not possible to buy tickets in advance for this Summer Concert
We request that you make a donation on the night.

This concert is sponsored by Ribble Valley Borough Council

Artists

Sally MacTaggartsoprano sax
Jenny Palfreymanalto sax
Spencer Morantenor sax
Fraser Johnstonebaritone sax

The Absolution Saxophone Quartet formed at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2006.  Absolution has recently been accepted to perform as part of the Park Lane Group Young Artists Platform and will be appearing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2011. The group are also winners of the 2009 and 2010 Trevor Wye Memorial Prize as well as the RNCM Chamber Music Prize, being named ‘RNCM Ensemble of the Year 2009’.

As winners of the RNCM Concerto Competition, Absolution will be performing Concerto for Saxophones by Tristan Keuris with the RNCM symphony orchestra in May 2011. The group were also finalists of the 2010, Centenary year, Royal Overseas League wind/mixed ensemble category.

As well as recent competition success, the group are currently taking part in education projects throughout the UK. As active members of the acclaimed ‘Live Music Now!’ scheme, founded in 1977 by Yehudi Menuhin, the quartet perform regularly at special needs schools and clinics and have also taken part in study’s of the effects of live music on dementia patients.

Absolution featured in the Royal Northern College of Music’s 2010 Chamber Music Festival where they performed an evening recital of British contemporary music in the RNCM opera theatre. Outside of the RNCM, the group also perform regularly for music societies and festivals such as Manchester Mid-day Concerts Society, St. Steven’s Festival, Cossington Concert’s, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Series and the Whitworth Art Gallery Concert Series. The group have also performed alongside ‘The House of Bedlam’ at the Whitworth Art Gallery as part of their UK tour.

At the 2010 Sounds New Festival in Canterbury, Absolution launched their own cutting edge multimedia project ‘Shattered Unity’ as well as performing contemporary music for saxophone quartet; including world premieres by Manchester based composers such as Emma-Ruth Richards and Duncan Ward (resident composer to the royal house).

The Absolution Saxophone Quartet appears by kind permission of the RNCM

Concert Programme

Alexander GlazunovSaxophone Quartet, Op.109
Finale
Astor PiazollaHistoire du Tango
Bordel 1900
Cafe 1930
Jean RivierGrave et Presto
Michael TorkeJuly
Gordon JacobSaxophone Quartet No.1,
Adagio Molto
Scherzo
Phillipe RameauGavotte et Variations
Michael NymanSongs for Tony
Movement 1
INTERVAL
Jean AbsilSuite sur des thèmes populaire roumains
Movements 1, 4 & 5
Barbara ThompsonSaxophone Quartet No.3
Serena 1
Dance of the Reeds
Serena 2
Carnival
Claude DebussyClaire de Lune
George GershwinThree Preludes
Will GregoryHigh Life
Gavin WhitlockCeltic Suite

As an example of classical writing for the saxophone click Glazunov  Concerto to hear an extract