ASQ will be performing music by:
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Barbara Thompson & Will Gregory. This concert also provides an opportunity to see ASQ's critically acclaimed silent movie set - Journey Across The Impossible.

Venue : Parish Church - Old Glossop
Time : 19:30

For more details click here

In the afternoon, quartet members will be running a saxophone ensemble workshop for sax players of all abilities.


The session will run from 2pm until 5.30 at The Parish Church. Students from the RNCM Saxophone Department will be supporting the event. Following an afternoon of rehearsals, the players will be invited to perform some of the music before a full audience at the Apollo Quartet's evening’s concert, and have reserved places, free of charge for the remainder of the performance.

For bookings or other queries please contact Andy Zuntz at a.zuntz@darkpeakmusic.co.uk.

For more information click here

A limited number of tickets are now on sale for an exclusive performance on Friday 1st February, at The Event Space @ HOME in Manchester's growing First Street area. Go to our the quartet's BUY TICKETS page to book your seats.

Tickets are £10 with a 50% discount for students.

Apollo | Artvark

Two Quartets Collide & Merge

Friday 1st February 2019 @ 19:30

Event Space : HOME

2 Tony Wilson Place

Manchester

M15 4FN

In the long history of humankind, those who collaborate and improvise
most effectively have prevailed” ——————— CHARLES DARWIN


APOLLO and ARTVARK have been working together on a ground-breaking project. Blurring the lines between classical and jazz, discovering the possibilities of 8 ‘brass men’ in full battle, full of eagerness to mix their combined artistry and history to create a new sound world that defines a new tradition, all players writing, all players improvising, collectively drawing on influences from the past and present to shape the sonic experience of the future. The 8 original compositions from all members of the group offer a huge range of styles and sounds that somehow blend together to make cohesive whole: a piece for two baritones, accompanied by the others, hocketing melodies divided over 8 saxophones moving like clockwork, interweaving lines inspired by the movement of the ocean and the wind, music to excite and challenge, to engage and to move the soul. There will be challenges for both quartets individually as this new music demands that each quartet moves stealthily but imperceptibly into the musical world of the other. Those who dare to join us on this journey will be captivated by the kaleidoscopic properties and almost limitless sounds gifted by the saxophone. Some of you will want an example to ponder, and audio fragment to absorb, but hey listen, this is something new…the first sessions have taken place, more are in progress. The compositions are still evolving, being moulded into their final form through a democratic and collaborative process between eight men. Picture these images and you shall be delighted to discover the new sounds of the octet, exactly as we are doing now. You will never forget this. It will never happen exactly the same way twice. On land, over seas, in fields, across towns, 8 brass men throw it down.

Those saxophones they say!

This unique performance will be the UK premiere of the 8 new works that form the beginning of our journey. We will be filming and recording this performance to make a series of videos to promote the project, and want to have a live audience as part of the process, to create a sense of occasion, an atmosphere for something special to happen. And then over the following two days we will record the music for a CD to be released later in 2019, accompanied by dates across the UK and Europe in the coming seasons.

We hope that you are able to join us on 1st Feb 2019, @Event Space, HOME, to be a part of this exciting new journey for both groups.

Buy Tickets Here

Some photos from Apollo Quartet's recent performance at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall


Photos by Jon Probert

ASQ in rehearsal for their forthcoming appearance at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

The Quartet will perform music by Graham Fitkin, Luís Tinoco, Barbara Thompson and Will Gregory and are looking forward to giving the premier of a new work by Simon Parkin.






The Bridgewater Hall

Friday 23 November, 2018 at 01:10 pm

Luis Tinoco Short Cuts
Simon Parkin A G F
Barbara Thompson White from Saxophone Quartet No.2
Graham Fitkin Stub
Will Gregory High Life

Fantastic gig last night the Chester Storyhouse as part of the 2018 Chester Festival. The quartet performed to a great audience and showcased a selection of our favourite repertoire including the silent film project.


This concert was also the first time the group had performed all four of Will Gregory's works: Highlife, Doppler's Hornpipe, Scintillation and Hoe Down as a complete suite. Each movement featured a different member of the quartet and was very well received.

A great concert last night at St Gregory's, Bedale as part of the Swaledale Festival.

Programme included:
Tuning in by Jonathan Dove
Alaric by Gavin Bryars
Richard Rodney Bennett's Quartet, written for Apollo in 1994

Back in the UK …… broken men!

After a chance meeting four years ago in South Africa sparked a collaborative process between two very different musical groups,
the 'ASQ meets ASQ' project was born.

Apollo returned home from a fantastic few days in the Netherlands working on the first gigs with the acclaimed Artvark quartet.

Every member of the group had written a new chart for eight saxophones in which jazz and classical had a head-on collision. After a day of rehearsals, this newly formed octet gave eight world premier performances to a highly appreciative audience at the great Brebl venue in Nijmegen





The group also undertook a series of workshops at ArteZ in Zwolle with the saxophone students there, followed by gigs at Amersfoort Jazz Festival.

Thanks Artvark for your hospitality, enthusiasm and drive and for many hours of laughter.

Both quartets are looking forward to seeing how this project develops in the future.

Apollo will be appearing at St Michael's and All Saints Church as part of the Alwinton Festival on May 28th performing John Casken's Nearly Distant and a selection of our favourite commissions.

Artvark Apollo Collaboration!

Apollo met the Artvark Saxophone Quartet in South Africa when both groups were guest artists at the inaugural South African Saxophone Symposium in 2014. The idea to get together and form a larger saxophone group, fusing both ensembles different sound worlds in a jazz classical mix, has taken time to come to fruition but the two quartets are finally in rehearsals with each member writing music for the group.




Three days of rehearsal, workshopping ideas and composing taking place this week.






Thanks to the University of Salford for providing us with a great rehearsal space

.

A great few days in Porto performing at the EurSax17 Festival.







Programme Included:

Travel Cartoons for the Blind by Django Bates

Reach Out by Dai Fujikura

&

Journey Across The Impossible
Silent films with music by ASQ

Apollo Quartet were excited to perform on home ground at the 2015 RNCM saxophone day.

Sax.co.uk concert.

Date:  25th June 2015
Time:  5pm
Venue: Sax.co.uk:

Sax.co.uk (London)
85 Hampstead Rd
London
NW1 2PL

Apollo play their own versions of some Melies film soundtracks with other early cinema pieces.



http://www.sax.co.uk

 Lake District Summer Music Concert

Date:  4 August 2015
Time:  7.30pm
Venue: 

Exciting new commission by Luke Bedford to be premiered at the International Lake District Festival. Both the LDSM and Apollo celebrating their 30th anniversaries in 2015.


Info for the concert

http://www.ldsm.org.uk
Luke Bedford

Splendor Amsterdam Concert

Date:  11 April 2015
Time:  8pm
Venue: Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 116 - 1011 LX Amsterdam

Journey to the Impossible project: Fims plus original music from the group.
Tickets: click below.


http://splendoramsterdam.com/concerten/apollo-saxophone-quartet

Shrewsbury Saxophone Day Concert

Date:  8 March 2015
Time:  6pm
Venue: Maidment Building, Shrewsbury School

Final concert after the saxophone day ran by Rob and Andy from the quartet.

https://www.cassgb.org/event/2673/Shrewsbury-School-Saxophone-Day/

Bangor Music Festival Opening Concert

Date:  4 March 2015
Time:  7.30pm
Venue: 19:30, Reichel Hall, Ffriddoedd Road, Bangor

Works from our latest CD alongside Melies film soundtracks.

http://www.bangormusicfestival.org.uk/index.php?id=wednesday-04032015

Apollo Tour of South Africa

UNISA National Saxophone Symposium

Monday 7th April 2014 – Thursday 17th April 2014

ASQ’s tour of South Africa centred around 3 Symposium Days held in Durban, Pretoria and Cape Town, in conjunction with the fantastic Artvark Quartet from the Netherlands (http://www.artvarksq.com).
These Symposia included workshops, individual lessons, Q&A sessions and evening concerts by both quartets also featuring massed saxophone orchestras made up of delegates from the sessions.



After the Quartet’s first couple of days in Durban, they flew North to spend a few days in Johannesburg and Pretoria giving daytime education sessions and evening concerts culminating in the second Symposium at the University of Pretoria.


Apollo & Artvark Quartets perform Sax Assault charts with Matt Lombard & Karendra Devroop

The last leg of the tour took the group to Cape Town for three days of concerts, workshops and the final Symposium, which took place at Hugo Lamprechts Music School.


The massed sax ensemble perform at the Cape Town symposium

ASQ would like to thank Matthew Lombard and Karendra Devroop for organising a fantastic tour.

journey across the impossible
1 november 2013, 21:30
(music with silent film)
The Apollo Saxophone Quartet have handpicked a series of short films, many from the early experimental days of film in the early 1900s, and set them to original scores which bring these quirky, thought provoking, often bizarre films to light in a way that extends and enhances their original meaning, often making a film that is almost 100 years old highly poignant and relevant to a 21st century audience.
£8, £6 (conc), £3 (students, u18)
The Lemon Tree
5 West North Street
Aberdeen
AB24 5AT

http://sound-scotland.co.uk/sound_artists/apollo-saxophone-quartet/

Sunday 30th June, 7:30pm
Coronation Hall, Ulverston.


The ASQ will be playing a concert in Coronation Hall, Ulverston on Sunday 30 June at 7.30pm, promoted by the amazing Jess Gillam! Concert includes music by some of the UK's most innovative jazz composers, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler & Barbara Thompson, and the ASQ's unique scores to half an hour of hilarious black & white films. http://www.corohall.co.uk/events/whats-on/apollo-sax-quartet.aspx

London Jazz Festival recital.


Saturday 17 November, 2:00pm
The Forge, Camden.

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet have been commissioning exceptional new music for 27 years. Expect works by composers such as Django Bates and Barbara Thompson, plus a set of new music to accompany a quirky, bizarre and often hilarious selection of century-old movies

.http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk/event/apollo-saxophone-quartet-1

Brighton Autograph Series Concert

Date:  7 Nov 2012
Time:  7.30pm
Venue: Brighton Autograph Concerts, Brighton College http://www.brightoncollege.ac.uk

The ASQ makes a return to this prestigious series. Programme includes music by Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Barbara Thompson, Keith Tippett and the ASQ’s original scores to a 30 minute selection of hilarious early black and white silent films.

Concert at York University

Wednesday 31 October 2012 at 7.30pm
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall

This engaging and entertaining retrospective of one of the country’s most successful instrumental ensembles displays the immense breadth of sounds and colours of the quartet to the full.   It includes music written for it by Django Bates, Barbara Thompson, Keith Tippett, Kenny Wheeler and Will Gregory – York alumnus and now half of Goldfrapp – amongst others, alongside a fascinating, quirky and hilarious set of early black and white films set to music by present and former members of the ASQ.

http://www.york.ac.uk/concerts/programme/apollosaxophonequartet/

Apollo shone at World Saxophone Congress

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet and Apollo Saxophone Orchestra proved a popular choice with audiences at the World Saxophone Congress recently.

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet performed a selection of works from their highly entertaining Journey Across the Impossible music for silent film project in a late night concert at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews. The programme included works by all four members of the ensemble, including the world premiere of new works by Carl Raven and Jim Fieldhouse. The early experimental black and white films expertly set to music by the quartet produced a hilarious event that was evidently enjoyed greatly by the specialist audience of saxophonists and other musicians.

The following evening the Apollo Saxophone Orchestra, formed in January 2012, gave their inaugural performance and launch of their CD Perpetual Motion, also at the Byre Theatre. Their programme comprised works for saxophone ensemble by Barbara Thompson, featuring a number of world premieres. The composer was present for the concert, which was preceded by the screening of a specially edited version of Playing Against Time, the recent BBC documentary about Barbara, her music and life with Parkinson’s. The combination of the film and music created a very special, moving occasion and an incredible reaction from the audience, who were vocal in their appreciation of Barbara and her work.

Visit Amazon.co.uk for more information and a full track listing for the Apollo Saxophone Orchestra CD Perpetual Motion (NI6200).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perpetual-Motion-Original-Saxophone-Orchestra/dp/B008GS9ENW

Visit barbara-thompson.com for information about the sheet music for Barbara Thompson’s works for saxophone orchestra.
http://www.barbara-thompson.co.uk/

Apollo feature in World Saxophone Congress

The Apollo Saxophone Quartet and new Apollo Saxophone Orchestra have both been selected to perform to an international audience at the prestigious World Saxophone Congress in St Andrews in July 2012. ASQ will give a late night concert featuring several works from Journey Across the Impossible, a groundbreaking project which saw the ensemble compose and perform original music for a selection of early black and white silent films.

The newly formed Apollo Saxophone Orchestra will give their inaugural concert of works for saxophone ensemble by the 'leading lady of British Jazz' Barbara Thompson, who will be present at the performance. The concert will include world premieres of works written specifically for the group, which feature on a new CD recording to be launched at the Congress. A short BBC documentary about Barbara, her music and life, will be screened at this event.

The triennial World Saxophone Congress is the leading international event for saxophonists, with an emphasis on contemporary classical repertoire. This is the first time in 36 years that the Congress is taking place in the UK, presenting a unique opportunity to showcase performers and composers from the UK on an international stage.

Visit the World Saxophone Congress XVI website for more information about the programme of performances.