Staying the Night was commissioned by the Crescent Duo and Central Michigan University and is a collaborative project with poet Robert Fanning, whose poem should always precede this piece in performance in recorded form (recording available through the composer). Robert’s beautiful words served as the stimulus for this music, and I am deeply indebted to him for his work, without which this piece could not exist.
—David Biedenbender
Murata: Rotte
This work is a series of pieces composed between 2012 and 2015 for two identical instruments. The title Rotte is a term referring to a pair of fighter jets in a formation. The name was chosen because the two instruments complement each other and trace one another’s trajectories. Although it is in the form of a duet, neither instrument is the accompaniment, and the unique feature is that the melody and accompaniment emerge by overlapping with each other.
No. 2
The piece is composed using polyrhythms that change beats within a 12/8 time signature. The idea for the piece was created when the composer stayed in Italy in 2008. The piece has a Latin feel, and is inspired by virtuoso pieces played on the accordion.
No. 1
This is the first piece I created, and it best represents the concept of Rotte. The two parts are combined to complete the melody. I composed it with the theme of "a modern piece with a classical sound."
—Junichi Murata
Higdon: Lullaby
Pulitzer-prize winner Jennifer Higdon started late in music, teaching herself to play flute at the age of 15 and then beginning formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Despite this late start, Higdon has become a major figure in contemporary classical music and makes her living from commissions, completing between 5 to 10 pieces a year. The League of American Orchestras reports that she is one of America’s most frequently performed composers, enjoying several hundred performances a year of her works.
Lullaby is presented here in one of several versions by the composer of her original composition for a new instrumentation. Higdon says: “Lullaby was written in honor of the birth of Samantha Clausen, the first daughter of my
Ricardo Martinez is assistant professor of practice in saxophone at University of the Pacific. Martinez has been a featured soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra of San José, Stanford Summer Symphony, University of the Pacific Wind Band, the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise Wind Ensemble in France, and the Mitaka City Orchestra in Japan. In addition, Martinez regularly performs with symphonies and festivals including the San Francisco Symphony, California Symphony, Classical Tahoe Music Festival, Sun Valley Music Festival, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and has recorded at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. As an educator, Martinez has been invited to teach and perform at Stanford University, CSU (California State University) Summer Arts, the Indiana University Summer Saxophone Academy and give masterclasses in Japan. Martinez is a Yamaha Performing Artist and is endorsed by BG France and Legere Reeds.
Juan Carlos Entrambasaguas is a saxophone performer and music educator interested in contemporary and classical music. He has been developing his artistic activity in Finland, Spain and the United States. Juan Carlos performed as a soloist and with chamber music groups. He taught master classes and played with different artists at high-performance levels.
Juan Carlos has a master's degree in classical saxophone performance from the University of the Arts of Helsinki, studying with saxophonist Joonatan Rautiola. He has a wide variety of teaching and group managing experience at the conservatory and university level. He currently holds a teaching position as a woodwind instructor at the San Francisco Community Music Center. Juan Carlos taught several master classes in different European countries such as Norway, Finland, Spain and the United States. During January of 2024, he also performed a recital with the pianist Casey Dierlam Tse at the International Saxophone Symposium, hosted by the United States Navy Band in Fairfax, VA.
Along his performance trajectory, Juan Carlos has played concerts internationally in Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Andorra, and Croatia, and has performed at the International Saxophone Symposium, American Saxophone Academy, Manhattan School of Music, the Helsinki Music Center. He has played as a soloist with the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra,
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Youth Orchestra of Salamanca (Spain), Helsinki Saxophone Orchestra, and SaxibA Ensemble. He has also attended many workshops with well-known musicians, such as Claude Delangle, Arno Bornkamp, Timothy McAllister, Otis Murphy, Marcus Weiss, Vincent David, Jean-Denis Michat, to name a few.
Steinway Artist Natsuki Fukasawa serves on the conservatory faculty of University of the Pacific as well as for theTalis Festival and AcademyandOrfeo Music Festival. She also enjoys nurturing young talents in her own private studio. Her students’ accomplishments include appearances in the NPR show From the Top, top prizes in Chopin National Competition, MTAC Young Artist Guild and Philadelphia International Competition.
Fukasawa has performed in Australia, Bosnia, Brazil, China, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S. She is a recipient of the Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year from the Danish Music Awards. In addition, Fukasawa is the pianist on the soundtrack of recent film We Had to Go—Remembering Internment. She has released a live solo album Year in Prague and coreleased albums Voices from Easter Europe with violinist Igor Veligan and Vocalise with bassoonist Scott Pool. In 2022 she collaborated on the album Song of the Redwood Tree from MSR Classics. In 2023, Fukasawa performed as a soloistGershwin’s Concerto in Fat Mondavi Center. She also released a new video recording of a commissioned work Invisibles by Miguel del Aguilá, and was featured as one of the convention artists at the 2023 Music Teachers’ Association of California Annual Convention.
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