Ethos New Music Society hosts Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

The Ethos New Music Society will be hosting the world-renowned Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. The performance is the first in the 10th Annual New Sound Festival sponsored by the student group, Ethos New Music Society.  

The concert will take place February 3 at 8 p.m. in Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for general public and can be purchased at the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office and at the door.

The concert will include a performance of Giya Kancheli’s “Amao Omi” with the Fredonia Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Donald Lang, and a performance of a new commissioned work by SUNY Fredonia composition professor Rob Deemer.

The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet formed in 1969. Since then, the quartet has appeared regularly at the major concert halls of Europe, Asia, and the United States, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, New York; Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.; Opera Bastille, Paris; Royal Festival Hall, London; Philharmonie, Cologne; Finlandia Hall, Helsinki; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Schauspielhaus, Berlin; Musicverein, Vienna; Tonhalle, Zürich; Parco della Musica, Rome; Dwan Filharmonik Petronas, Kuala Lumpur; and the National Concert Hall, Taipei. The Vienna Zeitung hailed the quartet as “the uncrowned kings of the saxophone”, and a critic from Die Weltenthused said, “If there were an Olympic discipline for virtuoso wind playing, the Raschèr Quartet would definitely receive a gold medal.”

The ensemble carries on a tradition that was established in the 1930s by the pioneer of the classical saxophone and founding member of the quartet, Sigurd Raschèr. Raschèr animated many composers to write music, especially for him. In a similar fashion, the quartet has inspired over 300 composers to dedicate music to them, including Berio, Bergman, Denhoff, Donatoni, Firsova, Franke, Glass, Gubaidulina, Halffter, Haubenstock-Ramati, Kagel, Kaipainen, de Leeuw, Maros, Moe, Nilsson, Nordgren, Nørgard, Rosenblum, Raskatov, Stucky, Terzakis, Tüür, Wuorinen, Xenakis, Chen Yi, and Zechlin.

Numerous composers have been fascinated with the combination of the Raschèrs and orchestra. This has resulted in more than 25 new works for that combination, as well as invitations from many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, American Composers’ Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Vienna Symphony, BBC, London Symphony, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many other orchestras, chamber orchestras, and instrumental and vocal ensembles.

For more information on the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, visit  , and to learn more about the Ethos New Music Society, visit .