Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra

Steven Loy (USA), conductor

Claude Delangle (F), soprano saxophone

Zagreb Saxophone Quartet: Dragan Sremec (CRO), soprano saxophone, Goran Merčep (CRO), alto saxophone, Saša Nestorović (CRO), tenor saxophone, Matjaž Drevenšek (SI), baritone saxophone

PROGRAM *

Alex Nante (1992-):
new work for soprano saxophone and string orchestra (first performance)

Sally Beamish (1956-):
“Chamber concerto” for saxophone quartet and string orchestra

*rest of the program to be announced later

The opening concert will feature the renowned French saxophonist and pedagogue Claude Delangle and the famous Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, under the baton of conductor Steven Loy and accompanied by the Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra. Delangle will give the premiere performance of a new composition for soprano saxophone and string orchestra, written by the young but already highly acclaimed Argentinian composer Alex Nante. The work will feature contemporary compositional techniques and themes, interweaving influences from Argentinian music with European classical elements. The Zagreb Saxophone Quartet will serve ‘Chamber Concerto’ for saxophone quartet and string orchestra, a composition by Sally Beamish from 2007, written for the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. Beamish drew inspiration from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and the Scottish musical tradition. The three-movement work interweaves baroque forms, counterpoint and metrical games. The saxophones appear both as soloists and in dialogue with the strings. The first movement is lively and virtuosic, the second is based on canon with baroque and Scottish influences, and the third develops a fugato with pentatonic theme and rhythmic tension.

Soloist, researcher and teacher Claude Delangle (FR) is one of the greatest contemporary saxophonists, a true master of the French saxophone school. As a connoisseur of classical works, he encourages creativity and enriches his repertoire by collaborating with the most famous composers, such as L. Berio, P. Boulez, Toru Takemitsu, A. Piazzolla, and advocates for young hopes. Since 1986, he has been a saxophonist with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and in addition, he performs as a soloist with the most prestigious orchestras and collaborates with conductors such as D. Robertson, P. Eötvös, K. Nagano, E.P. Salonen, Miung Wung Chung, G. Bernstein and many others. His recordings for the BIS, Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, Erato and Verany labels reflect French music, while at the same time discovering new musical horizons, from the collection of the brilliant Adolphe Sax to avant-garde works or the general repertoire. In 1988, after receiving numerous awards from the Paris Conservatory of Music, Claude Delangle was appointed professor at that institution, where he created the most prestigious saxophone class in the world.

The Zagreb Saxophone Quartet – Dragan Sremec, Goran Merčep, Saša Nestorović and Matjaž Drevenšek is one of the oldest saxophone quartets in the near and far vicinity. It has received numerous accolades and awards, including internationally. The members of the quartet studied saxophone at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, in the class of Professor Josip Nochta, and today all are lecturers at reputable universities in Ljubljana and Zagreb. The quartet regularly performs at the most important concert halls in Europe, the USA and Canada. Their musical friends include the most important orchestras and ensembles from Slovenia and Croatia (Zagreb Philharmonic, HRT Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Slovenian Philharmonic, RTV Slovenia and Slovenian Army Orchestras). They have collaborated with renowned conductors such as: Pavle Dešpalj, Hans Graf, David Itkin, Marko Letonja, Kazushi Ono, Scott Stewart, Vjekoslav Šutej. The quartet has been guested by soloists such as: Itamar Golan, Eugene Rousseau, Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Debra Richtmeyer, Steven Mauk, Kenneth Tse and Quartetto Academia. At various festivals, the quartet has been highly praised by both listeners and critics (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Split Summer Festival, World Saxophone Congress in Pesaro, Valencia, Montreal, Minneapolis, Ljubljana and Zagreb, Zagreb Biennale, in Paris, Orsay, Berlin, Ohrid, Munich, Latvia …). The quartet has participated in 11 discographic releases, for which it has received 7 Croatian Porin awards. Its repertoire is based on original works for saxophone quartet as well as arrangements of various composers from different stylistic periods, from the Baroque to the works of the 21st century. Many domestic and foreign composers have dedicated their works to the quartet.

Conductor Steven Loy, who works in Slovenia, is known for his influential commitment to the performance of contemporary art music. He founded the new music ensemble Neofonía, which, under his artistic direction, has performed many important works of the late 20th and early 21st centuries for the first time on the Slovenian stage. Among the most notable performances are his performances at the Predihano festival in Cankarjev dom. Loy also served as the artistic director of the Predihano festival between 2010 and 2012, and as the festival’s artistic advisor between 2014 and 2018. He regularly performs and records both contemporary and more traditional repertoire with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. He also collaborates with smaller ensembles, such as the Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra, the Slovenian Percussion Project, the MD7 group (with whom he premiered more than 70 works) and Slowind. As a guest conductor, he has performed with the Vienna ensemble for contemporary music Klangforum Wien, the ensemble Ensemble Experimental of the experimental studio of the West German Radio SWR (Freiburg, Germany), the Orchestra of New Music (Katowice, Poland), the Philharmonic Orchestra “Mihail Jora” (Bacău, Romania), the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Sombotel, Hungary), the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra (Hungary) and the Brașov Philharmonic (Romania). He is also active as a composer. His music has been performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. As an assistant professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the field of orchestral conducting, he works as a co-coordinator of the Studio for Contemporary Music, where he leads contemporary music ensembles and teaches contemporary performance practices, more demanding rhythmic techniques in the subject Polyphony Rhythmic Movements and chamber music. In 2020, he took over the artistic direction of the Chamber String Orchestra of the Slovenian Philharmonic.

The Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra is an ensemble of fourteen string players, otherwise members of the Slovenian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. In its twenty-five years of operation, the ensemble has played over 400 concerts at home and abroad. It regularly performs at the Ljubljana Summer Festival, the Maribor Musical September, the Danubiana Festival and the Slovenian Music Days. Concerts in Dubrovnik (Dubrovnik Summer Festival), Zadar, Zagreb (Zagreb Summer Festival, Zagreb Baroque Festival), Samobor, Opatija (Biennale of Contemporary Music), Rab, Pag, Novi Sad (Nomus Festival), Klagenfurt, Ohrid (Ohrid Summer Festival), Podgorica (A tempo Festival), Gorizia, Trieste, Murcia, Madrid, the Emilia Romagna Festival and Vienna have always been met with enthusiastic reception by audiences and critics. For its successful work, the ensemble received the Prešeren Fund Award in 1999, the Župančič Award.

At the concert, the ensemble will premiere a composition by a composer of the younger generation, i.e. a new work for soprano saxophone and string orchestra. Alex Nante is an Argentine composer and conductor, born on April 5, 1992. In parallel with studying philosophy and comparative religion at the Fundación Vocación Humana in Buenos Aires, Nante studied guitar, piano, basso continuo, conducting and composition. After graduating from the Argentine National University of the Arts (UNA) in 2014, he continued his career in France, where he studied composition at the Conservatory of Reims with Daniel d’Adam and musicology at the University of Paris VIII (2015). This was followed by advanced studies at the Paris Conservatoire, in particular with Stefano Gervasoni, and then preparing a doctorate at King’s College London under the mentorship of George Benjamin. Nante is interested in the worlds of symbolism, mythology, Eastern and Western legends and spiritual traditions, as well as literature and poetry. He has created numerous works that are inspired by themes outside of music and are imbued with a nocturnal, dreamlike atmosphere and a sacred or ritual dimension. Alex Nante is a prolific composer, writing for a variety of ensembles, from solo instruments to orchestra, as well as vocals. His works include Fulgor for orchestra, first performed in 2010 with the Daegu Contemporary Music Orchestra in South Korea; La pérégrination vers l’Ouest for orchestra, commissioned and premiered with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France (2015); Invocation for piano, premiered at the Orléans International Piano Competition with pianist Maroussia Gentet (2017); Ora for string trio and narrator of choice, commissioned and premiered with the Trio à Cordes de Paris (2017); Las noches de las piedras for instrumental ensemble, premiered with the Musikfabrik ensemble under Peter Eötvös at WDR in Cologne (2019); Estrella de la mañana for soprano and chamber orchestra, premiered with soprano Makeda Monnet and the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain under Daniel Kawka (2019). Nante also composes film music (e.g. Muere, Monstruo, Muere by Alejandro Fadel, 2018; Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Sebastian Alfie, 2019) and pedagogical works (e.g. Trois intuitions for violin and guitar, 2015; Life, dream, light, silence – spielBar for at least three performers, 2019). As a conductor who actively promotes contemporary music, Nante co-founded the OANM orchestra (Orquesta Amigos de la Nueva Música) in Argentina (2010) and the Écoute ensemble, which includes musicians in residence at the International University Citadel in Paris (2014). In addition, since 2018 he has been leading the Awkas ensemble, which specializes in premieres of new works.