Nikita Zimin (Russia), alto saxophone
Sandro Compagnon (France), soprano saxophone 
Sae Lee (Japan/Slovenia), piano

CONCERT PROGRAMME

Nikita Zimin, alto saxophone
Sae Lee, piano
César Franck: Sonata v A-duru

Sandro Compagnon, soprano saxophone
Sae Lee, piano
Vincent David: Flots
Henri Dutilleux: Sonatina
Vincent David: L’éveil de la toupie

Nikita Zimin is one of the brightest representatives of the Russian classical school of saxophone. Graduate of the Russian Gnesin’s Academy of Music, class of Russian People’s Artist, Professor Margarita Shaposhnikova, who is the founder of the Russian classical saxophone school. He is winner of more than 18 national and international competitions. Three-time winner of the “Delphic Games” (2006 – Astana, Kazakhstan, 2008 – Novosibirsk, 2009 – Samara). Nikita is the winner of the most prestigious international competitions: – IV International Competition for Wind Instruments “Aeolus Competition” (Dusseldorf, Germany, 2009), Grand Prix; – V international Adolphe Sax competition (Dinant, Belgium) – 2nd prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of the compulsory work in the final. The latest achievement was winning the First International Competition “Voice of the saxophone in the modern world” (Moscow, November 2011). Now Nikita studies in the Paris National Conservatory in the class of Professor Claude Delangle. Nikita has been chosen as a scholar of MstislavRastropovich Foundation, «Russian performing art» Foundation, the President of the Russian Federation and the French Government. Among the awards of artist: – Diploma “Golden Talent – 2008-2009” (“Best Musician of the Year”) of foundation “Russian Performing Art”; – Gratitude of the governor of the Moscow region of B. V. Gromov for victories in the All-Russian competitions; – Diploma the winner of forum “Breakthrough” – 2009; – Diploma of Laureate for talented youth, established by Presidential Decree; – Diploma “The Best Student of the Gnesin’s Academy of Music – 2010”. Nikita Zimin gives recitals, both in Russia and abroad (Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, USA, Korea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan), and gives master classes. Nikita works with such orchestra as the Volgograd Symphony Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Udmurt State Symphony Orchestra, the Mecklenburg State Choir, Northwest German Philharmonic and others. Nikita Zimin’s repertoire includes the composition of various styles and epoch – Bach, Teleman, Donizetti, Paganini, Dubois, Rivchun, Glazunov, Rakhmaninov, Creston, Iber, Milhaud, Piazzola, Denisov, Shostakovich, Hachaturyan, Tomasi, Debussy, Lauba, Tanada, Gershwin, Franc, Shmitt, Larsson, Swerts, Soge.

Born in Nice Sandro Compagnon started playing the saxophone at the age of 6 when he moved to Chamonix Mont-Blanc with his father as his first teacher. Two years later, he began his studies at the CRR of Annecy in the class of Christian Charnay and Fabrizio Mancuso. In 2006 he won the third prize at the European competition in Gap in the under 16 category and in 2010 the third prize at the European competition in Valenciennes in the soloist category. After obtaining a DEM in saxophone and chamber music in 2011, he joined Jean-Denis Michat’s class at the CRR of Lyon in 2013. In parallel to his classical music studies, Sandro plays a lot of jazz and performs in numerous festivals such as the Jazz Festival of Vannes (invited by the Spok Frevo Orchestra) or the Cosmo Jazz Festival of Chamonix of André Manoukian. He regularly performs in concert with André Manoukian and has recently recorded for one of his albums. Since the beginning of his young career, Sandro Compagnon has had the opportunity to perform in prestigious concert halls and festivals in France and abroad (Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Radio-France Festival in Montpellier, Salle Cortot, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Topan Hall in Tokyo, Folles Journées de Nantes, Maison de la Radio, as a soloist with the Garde Républicaine orchestra…). He plays regularly with the pianist Gaspard Dehaene. Together, they have performed at the prestigious Printemps des Arts festival in Monte-Carlo. Also, Compagnon has been working closely for several years with the composer Bruno Mantovani. He has premiered the soprano saxophone version of his piece for solo flute “Früh” at La Scala Paris live on France Musique, has transcribed numerous woodwinds works for saxophone and has recently recorded his first solo CD, dedicated to the composer’s music. He is a Master’s graduate in saxophone and chamber music at the CNSMDP in the classes of Claude Delangle and Michel Moraguès and, he follows the class of generative improvisation with Vincent LêQuang and Alexandros Markeas. In 2017, he won the 1st prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition with the Zahir Quartet of which he was a member between 2016 and 2021, in November 2019, the 3rd prize at the Adolphe Sax International Competition in Dinant, Belgium and in October 2021, the 1st prize at the Thomas Kuti International Competition in Thessaloniki, Greece. Sandro is also, since May 2021, a laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation. He has just been admitted as a Master Soloist at the ZHdK in Zürich (Switzerland) in the class of Lars Mlekusch.

After studying at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Sae Lee graduated with honours in piano and chamber music from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Michel Beroff and Eric Le Sage. She is the first prize winner of several competitions, including the Città di Padova and Albert Roussel International Festival and chamber music competitions like the Fnapec, Carlo Soliva and Cidade de Alcobaça. She has performed at the renowned Paris Piano à Enghien Festival, at the Nevada-Semipalatinsk International Conference, which is sponsored by the Government of Kazakhstan and UNESCO, and on the Japanese national television programme NHK Classic Club. As a soloist she performed with a number of orchestras worldwide including the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra and Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra – she performed with them the Turangalîla’s Symphony by Olivier Messiaen. She collaborates with world renown ballet dancers like Aurélie Dupont (the Director of Paris Opera Ballet) and Kevin O’Hare (the Director of The Royale Ballet). Sae is currently employed at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. “Sae Lee is one of the most sought-after collaborative pianists of her generation. Her ability to interact with other musicians with exceptional instrumental and artistic level captivate audiences.”(source: Mainich newspaper).