Saxofonia di Camera. An Evening of French Music

Riga Saxophone Quartet:

Aigars Raumanis, soprano saxophone

Rūdolfs Pēteris Rubenis, alto saxophone

Ainars Šablovskis, tenor saxophone

Patrīcija Bloma, baritone saxophone

About the program: The experienced Riga Saxophone Quartet has been an essential part of Latvia’s concert life for more than three decades! The ensemble’s repertoire is stylistically and generically diverse, and its international concert geography is no less impressive. In this program, the quartet invites you to embark on a musical journey to France and enjoy the varied nuances of chamber music associated with this country.

The concert title Saxofonia di Camera is borrowed from the refined work of the same name by the French composer Fernande Decruck, who specialized in saxophone music in the first half of the 20th century. It is paired with her impressive eight-part cycle Saxophonescas, which wonderfully highlights the rich timbral nuances of the saxophones.

The program is also enriched by works by Eugène Bozza, the poetic miniature Clouds and the life-affirming Andante et Scherzo. In this lineup, Gabriel Pierné emphasizes the inspiring power of folk music, while elegance pervades Jean Françaix’s Little Quartet, and Camille Saint-Saëns’s famous The Dance of Death, placed at the end of the program, speaks through heightened and grotesque expression.

Program: Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Pierné, Fernande Decruck, Eugène Bozza, Jean Françaix

Ticket price: 10 EUR

Concert at tables, café available

The venue on the 3rd floor is not accessible to wheelchair users