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Who or what inspired you to take up the saxophone, and make it your career? 

I learnt to play the recorder from my best friend in the playground when I was 6 years old. We would practise together every break-time and I was instantly hooked on playing music. My parents gave me the choice between the clarinet or the viola; my mother having played the viola at a younger age and my uncle the clarinet. I started having lessons with the woodwind teacher at my school and it was there that I was introduced to the saxophone. I heard the sound through the door from the pupil before me and I went home and told my parents “that is the instrument for me”.

I started the saxophone aged 9 and a year later, I performed my first concerto with the local orchestra, the Ronald Binge Concerto for saxophone and orchestra. I wish I could hear a recording of it now!

I went to the Purcell School of Music and studied clarinet with David Fuest and saxophone with Simon Stewart. I then ended up completing my degree and masters in performance at the Akademie fuer Tonkunst in Germany, with a former member of the Rascher Saxophone Quartet: Frau Linda Bangs.

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career? 

My parents were very supportive of my playing and would always take me to hear classical concerts, both orchestral and specifically saxophone. But, it wasn’t until I heard The Rascher Saxophone Quartet and had lessons from Bruce Weinberger that I really realised what the saxophone could do. The sound they create, the way in which the instruments blend together and the amazing virtuosity in which the players can perform, effortlessly; I wanted to play like that! That is really where I decided the direction and style of playing and decided to study with Frau Linda Bangs.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

One of the hardest points in my career was the unfortunate sports injury which meant I had to have four operations on my hip, removing cartilage, cysts and bone. I continued playing, although it was and still can be painful to sit for long periods of time, sometimes sitting at all! My lecturers and teachers were very kind, letting me postpone exams until after surgery and letting me lie on the floor during lectures and rehearsals (mainly choir!) I really came to understand the importance of health: being healthy in your body but also in mind. I had the opportunity to spend time listening to other players, researching the saxophone and the history and feel that I am a more rounded player because of this.

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?  

My final masters performance has to be one of my proudest moments. I played a programme which was 1hr 45mins long, including pieces for an 11-piece saxophone ensemble with percussion, a trio for xylophone, timpani and saxophone and also a piece for tenor saxophone and boombox. It was such a demanding programme, the adrenaline was racing and the audience were fantastic!

Which particular works do you think you play best? 

Even though people are surprised at the idea, I enjoy playing music from the baroque era the most. It dances and sings all by itself and is such a pleasure to play.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season? 

This all depends on the audience and venue I will be playing at. That’s a hard question to answer!

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why? 

I haven’t found it yet, although my dream (since I was a child and saw the proms there) is to perform a solo saxophone concerto on the stage at the Royal Albert Hall. I am performing at the O2 next year which has to be the biggest venue for me yet.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to? 

I enjoy performing all types of music, especially Baroque and rock n roll!

Who are your favourite musicians? 

The Rascher Saxophone Quartet were, and still are a huge influence and inspiration for me and I enjoy listening to their work very much. I also am a great fan of Maceo Parker, The London Community Gospel Choir and Anthony Strong.

What is your most memorable concert experience? 

Towards the end of my time in Germany, I performed a baroque Sonata with myself and my colleague Sarah Wuensche on soprano and Frau Linda Bangs on the baritone. I still cannot believe I performed alongside the woman who inspired me and moulded me into the musician I am today. I still have the recording and it brings butterflies every time I watch it.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians? 

I think one of the most important things for any student, being old or young, is to have fun. Music is such a spiritual aspect of a potential fast-paced world and it can bring so much joy and happiness that if it isn’t fun to play, then maybe should be listened to. Passion enables dedication and practise, which in turn can create the most amazing and versatile of players on any instrument. Music is an important part of every life, whether it is being played or listened to.

What are you working on at the moment? 

At the moment I am the most recent member in a 1950s Rock n Roll band and I learning the repertoire by ear, listening to the original records. It’s a wonderful and lively genre of music and performing it in 50s attire is an exciting experience! The band is called The Wonderers and you can find them at www.thewonderers.co.uk !

I have recently founded a saxophone and cello duo, called SaxnCello and we are learning material ready for a series of concerts we have lined up next year. We are playing a wide range of music, from Mozart cello duets to tangos and even the theme tune from the Swedish Series ‘The Bridge’, which my husband has arranged for us.

It is an exciting time at the moment and I am enjoying be part of many different groups and genres.

What is your most treasured possession? 

My most treasured possession would have to be my soprano saxophone, a Buescher, curved gold saxophone from around the 1930s. I bought it from Frau Linda Bangs about half way through my studies and couldn’t give it back. Although it looks small and rusty the sound is sweet and round, producing a true saxophone sound that Aldophe Sax had intended.

Saira Clegg was born in July 1985 in London. She started the clarinet at the age of 8, and one year later started the saxophone. In 1997 she began studying both instruments with a scholarship under the Governments Music and Ballet Scheme at The Purcell School of Music. After leaving school she continued onto The Royal College of Music gaining a Foundation Scholarship for Clarinet and Saxophone. She then spent one and a half years studying with Bruce Weinberger in Switzerland, before restarting  and completing her Degree and Masters in Darmstadt, Germany with Linda Bangs-Urban.

At the age of 10, Saira performed her first solo saxophone concerto and one year later became the principal clarinettist of the English National Children’s Orchestra. Her last performance with the orchestra, at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (UK), was recorded for Classic FM radio. In 1999, she won the “Watford Twin Town” competition resulting in two solo recitals at the Rachmaninoff Festival in Novgorod, Russia. In 2001, Saira played the clarinet for Prince Charles at the UNESCO building, Paris. She won the “Three Rivers Young Musician” and “Watford Young Musician of the Year” in 2002. Saira has performed at Buckingham Palace, the Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and St. Johns Smith Square.

www.sairaclegg.com

 

 

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(photo: Marco Borggreve)

I first heard French pianist Alexandre Tharaud at the Wigmore Hall in October 2013, and his performance of Bach, Schubert and Chopin left me somewhat underwhelmed.

In his concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the International Piano Series, he left me wanting more….

How clever of Alexandre Tharaud to open his QEH concert with Schubert’s Moments musicaux, salon pieces which combine charm and tenderness with an unsettling edginess to create Schubert’s emotional and musical landscape in microcosm. From the opening notes of the first of the suite, Tharaud imbued the music with intimacy and set the tone for the whole evening, even in the more extrovert sentences of Ravel’s “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs. This was piano playing which encouraged concentrated listening.

Read my full review here

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The Haydn Society of Great Britain is putting up the first commemorative plaque in London to the composer Franz Joseph Haydn.

There have been a number of attempts over the past fifty years to put up a plaque to Haydn in London but none has succeeded, perhaps because there are no original buildings left with which he is associated. However, the Haydn Society of Great Britain has been granted permission to put a plaque on the building occupying the site of 18, Great Pulteney Street in Soho.

We know from Haydn’s letters and diaries that he lived in a house on this spot when he first arrived in 1791, in rooms arranged for him by his promoter, Salomon. We also know he found 18th-century Soho very noisy, just as it still is today!

It’s hard to over-estimate the importance of Haydn to the development of classical music. Often referred to as “the Father of the Symphony” for the contribution he made to the development of that genre, ‘Papa’ Haydn is equally remembered for his influence on the development of the string quartet. Haydn’s music forms the the foundations on which Mozart and Beethoven built their greatest work.

The Haydn Society will commission a plaque from Ned Heywood MBE, a respected manufacturer responsible for many similar plaques across London (and all the square plaques in the City of London). It will look something like this:

The Haydn Society of Great Britain are doing this independently of any official plaque scheme and need to raise all the money themselves. This will be the first permanent commemoration of Haydn’s presence in London and his huge contribution to the cultural life of the city. The original subscribers to his Hanover Square Rooms concerts were attracted equally by his reputation and his musical genius – both of these will be acknowledged in a lasting memorial.

Help make a plaque for Haydn in London a reality by contributing to the Haydn Society of Great Britain’s Kickstarter campaign. Every donor will receive a Haydn-related gift, from an animated thank you from the composer himself to honorary membership of the Haydn Society of Great Britain, and more.

Pledge your support now via this link

Follow the Haydn Society of GB on Twitter @HaydnSocGB, #haydnplaque

 

 

 

 

[text source: Haydn Society of GB Kickstarter campaign site]

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(Photo: Katya Kraynova)

Who or what inspired you to take up the piano, and make it your career? 

I was fortunate to be playing many instruments as a child and conducting choirs and chamber orchestras. Then suddenly I met a great pianist and person- Felicitas LeWinter- she has been a pupil of Emil von Sauer who had been a pupil of Liszt. She had the most amazing sound and talked about Friedman’s sound. She inspired me- I was 16 – and I was then determined to be a pianist- I had had wonderful teachers in Ireland but she had a very distinctive and important lineage of course! Later on I was touched when she said that I had finally achieved the Arthur Friedman sound!

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career? 

I studied with John Barstow at the Royal College and he was very important in my musical development- great passion for music and all music including opera- he opened my eyes. Then Maria Curcio who had studied with Schnabel was central in a very different way. She had a complete command of the piano and a great integrity – there was no showmanship unless it helped the expression of the music.

Other influences are of course- Richter, Giles, Carlos Kleiber and all the wonderful musicians I have worked with and continue to work with such as Svetlanov, Kurt Sanderling, Previn and Maazel – all great conductors.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? 

Right now I am recording the complete Brahms and Schubert solo works for Chandos – this is a huge task and very daunting but I am taking it slowly and methodically and I am learning so much.

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?  

I love all my recordings. However, the ones I did with Janowski in Paris hold a special place for me. And of course I love these Chandos recordings.

Which particular works do you think you perform best? 

I am not sure – I wouldn’t like to say. It is for others to decide I guess?

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season? 

I play anything that inspires me and that I feel I bring something to. Of course Brahms and Schubert figure a lot at the moment- that is a privilege!

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why? 

I don’t have one. There are great acoustics all around the world, there are great halls in beautiful places, there are places I like because of personal connections, like Ireland.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to? 

I don’t often listen to music per se as I want to concentrate on my own solutions – but I adore opera and go to performances a lot. When I was 18 and fresh in London I practically lived in Covent Garden and the ENO.

Who are your favourite musicians? 

I love my friends who come to my festival every August in Clandeboye, Northern Ireland. They are warm passionate and brilliant people. I love Alison Balsom – she played with my orchestra Camerata Ireland many times. I love Lynn Harrell the cellist and Chio Liang Lin the violinist – we worked together often.

What is your most memorable concert experience? 

I think there are many – too many. I can’t choose one in particular.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians? 

You must be true to the music and be honest. Performance is not for show, but it must also look good- it is an entertainment (a refined one of course) but people want to see and hear something that will change them, and inspire them.

What are you working on at the moment? 

My next Brahms and Schubert CDs – sonatas, Impromptus and intermezzi and the Paganini and Schumann variations of Brahms,

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Sitting in Provence reading a book by the pool – perfect antidote to the pressurized concert season!!

What is your most treasured possession? 

Apart from my family whom I don’t “possess” of course…….my Steinway piano I guess, and my Audi Quattro!!

What do you enjoy doing most? 

Driving around Provence in the summer and eating a long lunch

Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland and the Clandeboye Festival, he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule.

Barry Douglas’s complete biography