New Friday is a concert for those who want to explore the innovative music of our time with a curious interest. At this concert we meet two saxophone quartets: Quasar Quatuor de Saxophones from Montreal and Stockholm Saxophone Quartet. Both have spent decades exploring the music of our time and touring all over the world. The quartets have also, individually, responded to many hundreds of orders and premieres of new music.
There will also be premieres this evening, partly with music by Swedish Martina Tomner and partly by Gordon Williamson, a Canadian composer active in Germany. Tomner recently gained attention for her chamber opera Shielded, in which she made use of AI, among other things.
Spanish José Evangelista was active in Montreal until his death in 2023, and his music is often based on melodies layered on top of each other, or clanging like echoes of themselves. Swedish Jenny Hettne often composes in close collaboration with musicians. Her Swirls and Shades was written for the evening's two saxophone quartets and premiered in Montreal in 2019.
