Having already begun a blog on the Continuum Sax website, I decided that it might be good to start one that readers could more easily respond to. Primarily this is to make it more fun and meaningful both for anyone reading it and for me writing it.

So what has Continuum Sax been up to since my last posting (which you can find at http://continuumsax.com/page33/page33.html)? Well we did some really fun concerts with Leichhardt Espresso Chorus on the weekend. We played new pieces for choir and saxophones by David Basden and Dan Walker. These Australian composers are both very well-known in Australian choral music circles and have both written a lot for saxophone too. Dan Walker often includes saxophone in the small orchestra that LEC often uses and gives the instrument a good chance to let rip in the best possible way.

Working with LEC was really enjoyable because the organisation is such a friendly and welcoming group of people. As a community choir it really prides itself on bringing forward the musical knowledge and abilities of its members and they all just love finding out about how music works. This is reflected in the large number of newly composed works within their repertoire. This choir is a real champion of active music making in every sense: performance, creation, learning, and giving.

Continuum Sax are next off to the Australian Clarinet and Saxophone Festival. Continuum Sax are performing on the Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday Christina, Martin and myself are performing solo at various times of the day. On the Tuesday night the festival has its saxophone gala concert and Continuum Sax has the privilege of accompanying the French saxophonist Philippe Geiss and Nicholas will do a solo on baritone sax, as one of a couple of items providing some historical perspective through a performance of one of the Solo de Concours by Singelee.

Before we get to Melbourne, I’ll hopefully have time to provide an update on the Philippe Geiss and Barry Cockcroft masterclass in Sydney on Thursday (that would be tomorrow at the time of writing) being hosted by the Saxophone Academy Sydney. Until then…