For the first time in the 16-year history of the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, a saxophone will take a starring role.
In the first two concerts, sax player Ashu will perform works that cast the sax as a soloist. The first, on Sunday, will be Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Saxophone Quintet, which festival sponsor Arizona Friends of Chamber Music commissioned three years ago.
Friends President Jean-Paul Bierny said he formed a consortium of five chamber societies, including the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, to split the fee, which was higher than the Friends normally pay for commissions. The group was able to raise enough money for a 10-minute work — "it was all we could afford, actually," Bierny said.
Commissioning Zwilich, the first female composer to win a Pulitzer Prize, was a coup. The 69-year-old Florida native has been commissioned by major players in American music, including Juilliard and the New York Philharmonic. Grove Music Online calls her one of America's "most frequently played and genuinely popular living composers."
While writing the piece, Zwilich apparently became so excited that she penned seven extra minutes, then phoned Bierny and told him she couldn't wait to hear the world premiere. So instead of performing it for the first time this weekend, the Friends brought in Ashu and the Chicago Chamber Musicians to perform it in January 2008.
"The audience loved it," Ashu said in a phone interview from his Chicago home. "There's something about string quartet and saxophone. It can blend with the strings and become its own voice. It's a really beautiful sound."
Ashu described the piece as "complex and intricate" but "also very, very accessible and upbeat and at times very beautiful."
"Any audience can find something enjoyable in the piece," he said.
"It's a masterpiece," Bierny added. "The (2008) audience loved it. Because of that, we asked Peter Rejto (the festival's artistic director) to add it to the program of this festival."
Bierny said the saxophone is finding a broader audience in classical music, and much of it rests with Ashu, one of a handful of sax players doing classical.
"People like Ashu and just the instrument — it fits beautifully with strings," Bierny added. "It's a lot like the human voice. It's very lyrical. There's not much repertoire, but this (Zwilich's Quintet) will be a major addition to this repertoire."
On Tuesday, Ashu will join pianist John Milbauer, who teaches at the University of Arizona School of Music, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins for Pierre Jalbert's "The Invention of the Saxophone." Chicago's Music in the Loft, which champions young artists, commissioned Jalbert to write the piece for Ashu, based on Collins' poetry. Collins narrated the poetry during the premiere in 2003.
Bierny said he met Collins at an event at the UA Poetry Center and commented that the Friends and Ashu had performed his work. Bierny also let slip that the Friends had programmed the piece again on this year's festival lineup.
"His reaction was, 'I will do the narration.' So that's a fantastic coup, and he's doing it pro bono," Bierny said. "He is a fantastic not only poet, but reader of his own poetry.
"This is just amazing. This is a phenomenal coup. We've never had a poet on our festival. And we've never had a saxophone."
The festival will mark Ashu's third appearance with the Arizona Friends, who first hosted him in their Piano and Friends series in 2005.
"When you come back to a series like Arizona Friends, it's a very loyal audience. That feeling is very special. You walk on the stage and there's an emotional connection with the audience that's like nothing," he said. "It's such a respected and highly regarded series. Saying that you've performed on the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (opens doors)."
Other festival highlights include two world premieres — Dominik Maican's Quintet for Strings and Clarinet on Wednesday, and Schuttenhelm's Duo for Violin and Bass, "Lyric Serenade," on March 15 — and the first time the festival has hosted a pianist from Mexico, Jorge Osorio.
The Pacifica Quartet, the festival's headliner, comes fresh from snagging a Grammy for best chamber music performance in February for its recording of Elliot Carter's String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5.
"There's going to be a lot of excitement," Bierny said.
If you go
16th annual Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival
• Featuring: Pacifica String Quartet.
• When: Sunday through March 15.
• Where: Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave., Downtown.
• Tickets: $25, $10 for students per concert. $120 for five evening concerts; $265 for five concerts and March 14 gala dinner concert at Arizona Inn; $150 for gala dinner.
• Details: 577-3769.
• Musicians: Violinists Simin Ganatra, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Ani Kavafian and Joseph Lin; violists Masumi Per Rostad, Paul Coletti; cellists Brandon Vamos, Antonio Lysy and Peter Rejto; pianists Bernadette Balkus, Jorge Osorio and John Milbauer; trumpeter Ed Reid; clarinetist Richard Hawkins; bassist Volkan Orhan; saxophonist Ashu; percussionist Gary Cook; and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins as narrator Tuesday for Jalbert's "The Invention of the Saxophone," featuring Ashu and pianist Milbauer.
• Schedule: (All concerts begin at 8 p.m. except Sunday and March 15, which begin at 3 p.m., and the gala dinner, which begins at 6 p.m.): Sunday — Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat Major, "La Malinconia"; Zwilich's Saxophone Quintet; Brahms' Quartet in A minor. Tuesday — Rossini's Quartet No. 3 in F Major for 2 Violins, Cello and Bass; Bloch's Suite 1919 for Viola/Piano; Jalbert's "The Invention of the Saxophone"; Brahms' Trio in A minor for Piano, Cello and Clarinet. Wednesday — Turina's "Scene de Andalous" for Piano Quintet and Viola; Dominik Maican's Quintet for Strings and Clarinet (world premiere); Ross Edwards' Binyang for Clarinet and Percussion; Faure's Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor. Next Friday — Mendelssohn's "Capriccio"; Mustonen's Nonette II Strings; P. Schickele's "Serenade for Three" for Clarinet, Violin, Piano; Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor. March 14 — Gala dinner and concert, Arizona Inn. March 15 — Schuttenhelm's Duo for Violin and Bass, "Lyric Serenade" (world premiere); Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time"; Golijov's "The Last Round" String Nonet; Saint-Saëns' Septet for Trumpet, String Quartet, Bass and Piano.
• Et cetera: Dress rehearsals are open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon on concert days, except on Sunday.
