German saxophonist Christian Segmehl will be touring my pieces Black & Blue and Rock Me! on a tour in Germany in April. Further details below or on his website.

duoka Tournee 2012 (Saxophon und Percussion – mit Lars Rapp)

Sonntag, 1. April, 19:30 Uhr – München, Pasinger Fabrik
Montag, 2.April, 20 Uhr – Stuttgart, Café Merlin
Dienstag, 3. April, 20 Uhr – Mannheim, Lanzkapelle
Mittwoch, 4. April, 20 Uhr – Leutkirch i. Allgäu, Autohaus Merk
Donnerstag, 5. April, 20 Uhr – Alberweiler (bei Biberach/Riß), Pfarrstadel
Werke von: Mauricio Kagel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Barry Cockcroft, Minas Borboudakis, Chick Corea
Bei den Konzerten in Leutkirch und Alberweiler wirken die bildenden Künstler Marlene Widmann und Roland Hess (nur in Leutkirch) mit!!

Genaue Adressen und weitere Infos auf meiner Homepage: www.christian-segmehl.de

After flying for 20 hours to perform with the Malaysian Philharmonic to play Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov, my piece got cancelled. Some key players were ill and replacements couldn’t be found at short notice.

I was really looking forward to playing this magnificent piece featuring alto saxophone but now I am on my way home early. Yet another great composer who only wrote once for the saxophone!

Composer Matthew Orlovich with Barry Cockcroft

I have just finished a fantastic weekend premiering a new concerto ‘Flying Colours’ by Australian composer Matthew Orlovich.

The US navy band is perhaps the finest concert band in the world and it was fantastic to be able to work with such an amazing group of musicians.

The event was the 35th International Saxophone Symposium and we had about 2,000 in the audience for the concert. Under the fine baton of Commanding Officer Captain Brian Walden, the concert began with the Glinka Overture to Russlan & Ludmilla. I was the first soloist and I had a great time performing Matthew’s new piece. As an encore I performed my own original composition ‘Rock Me‘ which was a lot of fun to play for such a large enthusiastic audience. Afterwards I watched from sidestage as Chien-Kwan Lin performed superbly the first two movements the David Maslanka Concerto.

After interval Senior Chief Musician Tim Roberts performed Demersseman’s Fantasie on an Original Theme and then immediately switched to his Navy band saxophone section quartet to perform the excellent Hoedown by Will Gregory. The final concerto for the evening featured Brandford Marsalis performing Jacob ter Veldhuis‘ ‘Tallahatchee’ Concerto. We all finished with a rousing encore Sir Patrick, written by French Saxophonist Philippe Geiss.

Barry Cockcroft and Branford Marsalis rehearse with the US Navy Band.

I rehearsed for 25 minutes on the first day and then had 15 minutes sound check on the day of the concert. Rehearsing the encore piece with all four soloists and the Navy saxophones was lots of fun!

During the 2nd day of the Saxophone Symposium I performed a solo recital with Navy Band pianist Darrell Partin. We played Matthew Orlovich’s Crazy Logic, one of my favourite pieces and I then performed three of my own compositions including Black & Blue, Ku Ku and Beat Me. I managed to slip in 2 or 3 fantastic jokes that 2 or 3 of the audience members managed to understand! Thanks to Aaron Morneau and Zach Stern for playing in my masterclass that afternoon.

It was a great few days, expertly organised by Tim Roberts and the US is fortunate to have such a well attended saxophone event each year. It was a pleasure to spend time with the founder of the Symposium – Dale Underwood, and can you believe that he has never missed one. I met so many enthusiastic players that I am sure that the next Symposium will be even bigger.

Many thanks to Rico (Reserve Reeds), Selmer and the Australia Council for the Arts for supporting my attendance at this major event.

I am very pleased to have received significant support from the Australia Council for the Arts in their recent funding round. With financial assistance from the Australia Council I will be attending both the International Saxophone Symposium in January and the British Saxophone Congress in London in February. Both events will give me opportunity not only to perform new Australian music but also to meet some of the world’s finest saxophonists and learn more about two very different approaches to saxophone.

During the trip I will also have the opportunity to complete and workshop my new sonata for soprano saxophone and piano. I will be premiering this, my first major work, in London with Adam Pinto (Rompduo) and can’t wait to have a clue about writing for the piano!

Congratulations to the other grant recipients and I was pleased to see that composer Katy Abbott, who has written saxophone music for me, received funding to attend the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. More music for saxophone Katy?

I am looking forward to performing at the International Saxophone Symposium in the USA next month. The opening night concert with the United States Navy Band will feature 3 other soloists including Branford Marsalis – international recording artist, Chien Kwan-Lin – Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music and MUCS Timothy E. Roberts – Principal Saxophone of the U.S. Navy Band. I will be premiering a new concerto ‘Flying Colours’ for alto saxophone & band written by Australian composer Matthew Orlovich, published by Reed Music.

It is a long flight to play for 12 minutes, so I will be also be giving a recital of ‘Sax Down Under’ a selection of my own compositions and Crazy Logic, Matthew Orlovich’s fantastic piece for alto saxophone & piano. I will finish up with a masterclass during this busy weekend and look forward to meeting and hearing lots of great saxophone players!

Entering its 34th consecutive year, the International Saxophone Symposium will be held January 7 and 8, 2011 at 8:00pm at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The event is free, open to the public, and brought about for the enjoyment and fulfillment of all members of the general community. Because of this mission, we are proud to have one of the largest audiences of any saxophone-only event in the country today.

http://www.navyband.navy.mil/saxophone_symposium.shtml

In July 2011, I will be performing and giving masterclasses for saxophone players at Tutti World Youth Music in Beijing.

Tutti world youth music beijing is an exciting new week long event for school age musicians ands singers from around the world. It will provide the opportunity to enhance and showcase their talents in a non competitive environment and through their love of music to reach out and build friendships across the cultural diversity of the World. To be held in Beijing China over the period 9 – 16 July 2011 tutti world youth music beijng welcomes participation from orchestras, string orchestras/ensembles, symphonic wind bands/brass ensembles and choral groups.

Throughout tutti world youth music beijing participants will undertake a series of masterclasses focusing on technique improvement run by a stellar international faculty. As well all groups will have the opportunity to perform their own chosen repertoire for other participants in a non competitive atmosphere. As Artistic Director Paul Dean will lead the new event. He will inspire you! Paul is one of Australia’s foremost music educators and he promises that the experience of tutti world youth music beijing will be exceptional.

And of course the added bonus is Beijing…a city not only full of history but now pulsating with the surging modernisation that is contemporary China! A city not to be missed.

Tutti world youth music beijng is presented by China Stars Events, an organisation with a reputation for presenting quality events.  The organisers have previously presented the internationally acclaimed Bonyi International Youth Music Festival in Brisbane in 2007.  Having now created our own organisation, we felt that the ideals of that event must not be lost. Thus tutti world youth music bejing has been created to fill this void !! Many of Bonyi’s former faculty are as excited as we are about the new event and so will join us for the adventure.

Remember….the focus will be on learning to play your instrument or sing better.  It is not a competitive event…that is not our philosophy. You will find that this creates an atmosphere of friendship and enjoyment of music far beyond what you have ever experienced.

Other faculty include: Paul Dean, Leesa Dean, Andrew Jarvis, Larry Knopp, Rob McWilliams, Andrew Mogrelia, Graeme Morton, Pat Murphy, Shane O’Shea, Virginia Taylor, Michele Walsh, Jeremy Williams and Yuen Yum San. More information can be found on the Tutti website.

Thank you for visiting the website of Australian saxophonist and composer, Barry Cockcroft.

On this site, you will find recordings, sheet music excerpts, program notes and background information for many of my compositions. I hope that you will find this useful.

If there is anything else that you would like to know, please ask!

Played my music lately?
Please let me know if you have played one of my compositions recently. I would love to hear about your latest performances.

Let me know in advance and I can list it on this site.

Do you have an audio or video recording of your performances?
Send me the recording or link and I would be happy to review it for inclusion on this website.