UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 08 AUGUST
Four RBC alumni – Alicia Hillman, Ewan Wright, Nicole Micheli and Emily Plumb – were recently invited to perform at the third European Saxophone Congress in Trento, Italy. They performed in two British ensembles at the festival – the Yugen Saxophone Quartet and Couple of Saxes Duo.
The Congress was a six-day festival celebrating the saxophone, with over 550 saxophonists taking part from 21 countries around the world. International saxophonists, emerging groups and saxophone orchestras performed on stages across the city and surrounding area, playing classical, modern and contemporary repertoire.
Yugen Saxophone Quartet are an up-and-coming British saxophone quartet, exploring diverse repertoire, based in Birmingham. They formed at RBC in November 2020, and are made up of Ewan on Soprano Saxophone, Nicole on Alto Saxophone, Emily on Tenor and Alicia on Baritone Saxophone.
The quartet have won competitions including the Sylvia Cleaver Prize 2021 and the Andrew Downes Prize 2022, and released their debut studio album ‘Origins’ in January 2022.
They have performed at a wide variety of events across the UK and Europe, including Leicester International Music Festival in 2023 and in the Jennifer Blackwell space at Symphony Hall in 2023 and 2024.
Alicia said: “In submitting our programmes for consideration for the European Saxophone Congress, the Yugen Saxophone Quartet were keen to promote works by British composers and bring them to a new audience in Europe.”
They included ‘Earth Dances’ by Andrew Downes, a Birmingham-based composer and former Head of Composition at RBC, who sadly passed away in 2023. They also performed a quartet favourite, ‘Tinged’ by British composer and saxophonist Jenni Watson, and ‘Yugen Vibes’, a piece written especially for the quartet by Italian composer Danielle Di Virgillo while studying at RBC.
Alicia and Ewan, known collectively as the Couple of Saxes Duo, embarked on their collaborative journey almost four years ago. Their partnership is underpinned by a deep appreciation for the saxophone's versatility and a shared desire to push the boundaries of traditional performance.
Through commissioning new works and championing contemporary compositions, Alicia and Ewan seek to enrich the saxophone's musical landscape and inspire future generations of performers and composers.
For the Congress, Couple of Saxes Duo curated a selection of compositions by renowned composers.
Alicia said: “Our concert underscored the classical saxophone's role in the modern world, blending diverse cultural influences. The Couple of Saxes Duo was selected and invited to perform due to our dedication to commissioning new works. Notably, three of the four pieces performed at the Congress were world premieres commissioned by us.”
These works included ‘Crickets’ by Jordan Reed, a fusion of Italian and American styles which uses chord progressions inspired by Electronic, House, and EDM music. They also played ‘Four Songs’ by Christoph Enzel, which combines lyrical and minimalist composition with a hint of rock, ‘Swirl’ by Marc Mellits, an exploration of American post-minimalist music, and ‘Kinetic Fatigue’, composed by Alicia.
British composer and saxophonist Jenni Watson said: “A huge thank you to the Yugen Saxophone Quartet for including my work ‘Tinged’ in their performance. It was such a pleasure to hear this whole recital, in a brilliant gallery setting with dramatic acoustics which hugely added to the performance.
“The Quartet work so well as a unit, as well as demonstrating their individual personalities when taking the lead – you can see the clear connection between the players.”
Jenni added: “It was also fantastic to hear the Couple of Saxes Duo – such clear communication and understanding of each other as players, that the blend of tone was beautiful and genuinely sounded like one player.
“The choice of repertoire suited them well, had huge appeal for me personally, and was exciting to hear, including a piece written by Hillman herself, which sat perfectly among the other repertoire.”