The Franschhoek Theatre and SmallTalX will host a public lecture-demonstration on the classical saxophone, presented by well-known Capetonian saxophonist Liam Burden on Wednesday 24 January.
He will discuss the history and repertoire of the instrument, as well as his advocacy for the saxophone in South African art music. Burden will also perform several selected contemporary solo works, including poetry-inspired repertoire by the renowned Japanese composer, Ryo Noda.
The talk will conclude with a question-and-answer session, a rare opportunity to engage with a classical musician and learn about the tools of his trade.
Many associate the saxophone with jazz, yet its history is more closely tied to the classical music tradition. Created by the Belgian inventor and musician Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, the instrument was adopted by the French military for marching-band use. Soon afterwards, a saxophone professor was employed by the famous Paris Conservatoire, and composers began to write concert music for the instrument.
Classical composers who have written for the saxophone include Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel (including in his famous ‘Bolero’), Alexander Glazunov, Georges Bizet (composer of the opera Carmen), Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff and opera composer Giacomo Puccini.
During the early 20th century, the saxophone became popular in the United States, and partly due to American troop deployment after the two World Wars, became intimately associated with jazz. In South Africa, the saxophone has played an important part in musical culture, including in South African jazz, pop and rock, minstrel bands, and in school and military bands.
Burden is a prominent local classical saxophonist, having recently premièred Kevin Houben’s saxophone concerto, “Legend of a Giant”, with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Last year he served in the faculty of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (the first such appointment for a saxophonist). He also adjudicated the first South African International Woodwind Competition.
Burden teaches saxophone and clarinet at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre and at Stellenbosch University (SU). He studied with Dr Michael Ibrahim at the West Virginia University in the US and conducted with Dr Mitchell Arnold. While an undergraduate at SU he was taught by the legendary Darryl Walters. He received a Rector’s Award for Excellent Achievement in Culture from SU.
The talk takes place at the Franschhoek Theatre on 24 January at 19:00. Tickets cost R250 per person, and includes a glass of wine, snacks and the question-and-answer session the speaker. Bookings are essential and can be made at www.franschhoektheatre.co.za, or by sending an email to hello@franschhoektheatre.co.za.
- Contact Leila Shirley on 067 314 4059 for more information.
