Saxophone Hero

New Music for Sax Quartet, Electronic Sounds, and Games

With generous support by the Koussevitzky Foundation Commission as well as the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Project Fusion Saxophone Quartet presents:

A free program featuring three new works for saxophone quartet—composed by Sky Macklay, Jason Charney, Michael Frazier, and Peter van Zandt Lane—alongside selections of music from popular video games.

Please RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/share/rTmeYWA8semJHH6U/

The new work by Sky Macklay will be presented in its first ever performance at this concert, a world-premiere event. "Saxophone Hero" will be for SATB saxophone quartet with live processing (using Max/MSP with stereo playback), and a marching band-themed audience-participatory mobile game engineered by Jason Charney. This piece seeks to unite the experiences of current and former “band kids” and video game enthusiasts (an already-overlapping Venn diagram), by creating an interactive experience that challenges the audience to execute increasingly-complex rhythmic patterns which influence the form of the piece in real time. The mobile game will be a rhythm-based game in the vein of “Dance Dance Revolution,” but with the players’ thumbs acting as the cartoonishly-disembodied feet of a performer in a marching band. Each quadrant of the audience will be assigned to a team represented by one of the saxophones. The game begins with basic rhythms, and when a certain percentage of a team achieves a high level of rhythmic accuracy, the game advances “their” saxophone to the next section of music, which comes with more complex and challenging marching patterns. While somewhat aleatoric on a micro level, the macro-level form will be that of a ramp, going from simple, playful rhythms and unprocessed saxophone to extremely dense, polyrhythmic, and processed sounds.

Project Fusion strives to connect and inspire audiences through kinetic performances, adventurous programming, artistic kinship, and shenanigans. The quartet is a Laureate of Astral Artists, “...elevating the saxophone to its rightful throne” (Splash Magazine), and they have captured top prizes in the nation’s most prestigious chamber music competitions, including the Fischoff, Coleman, Plowman, Chesapeake, and Music Teachers National Association chamber competitions. They are passionate, witty, daring, and devoted musicians who seek to share their bond with others through the excitement and intimacy of chamber music. Project Fusion’s name is derived from the philosophy that music is an infinite, ongoing “project” guided by a sense of adventure and creativity, and that the collaboration of diverse perspectives can result in dynamic, surprising, meaningful and enjoyable artistic creations. In upcoming seasons, Fusion will explore the music of video games, perform as orchestral soloists, and present world premieres of works written by diverse composers in performances across the USA.

A native of south Florida, Dr. Dannel Espinoza is currently the Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS. Described as having an “effective sense of phrasing and dynamic sensitivity” (Florida Classical Review), Dannel has performed for audiences throughout the world as a soloist and chamber musician with various ensembles including the Kontra Duo with his wife, harpist Dr. Kristina Finch. Dannel completed his DMA in saxophone with a minor in conducting at the Eastman School of Music. His Bachelors and Masters degrees were earned at Northern Arizona University and Florida State University, respectively.

Saxophonist Dr. Doug O’Connor is passionate about sharing music that challenges audiences to explore, connect, and grow. His performances push the athletic limits of the saxophone and feature music from all eras and in many styles, including classical, contemporary, jazz, and electronic music. He strives to champion new works, present adventurous and innovative chamber music, perform with an improvisatory command of music from Bach to Coltrane, and connect music with technology in live performance. In 2023, Doug O’Connor will join the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory as Assistant Professor of Saxophone, as well as the staff of the Washington Arts Ensemble, a D.C. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting chamber music to the local community. O’Connor honed his artistic mission while performing on the Astral Artists roster from 2003 to 2013 and completing his training at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned his MM and DMA degrees in 2008 and 2012, and eventually went on to serve as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Saxophone in the fall of 2017. In addition, he served as Associate Lecturer of Saxophone at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, as a saxophonist with the United States Naval Academy Band, and since 2016 as a saxophonist with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own.” He is proud to be a co-founder of the Global Premiere Consortium Commissioning Project, an online platform for instigating the composition, dissemination, and performance of new music worldwide, and the alto saxophonist with the acclaimed chamber ensemble Project Fusion Saxophone Quartet.

Aiwen Zhang is an emerging artist and saxophonist who was born in China. Zhang is currently pursuing her specialist degree at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance under the direction of Dr. Timothy McAllister. She holds degrees from the Paris Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Her primary saxophone teachers have included Timothy McAllister, Claude Delangle, Chien-Kwan Lin and John Sampen. As a highly active performer, Zhang has a strong performance background as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Zhang has worked with many established orchestras as a featured soloist around the world including Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony Orchestras from the Universities. As a multi-award winning saxophonist, Aiwen Zhang has been a prize-winner at prestigious music competitions such as the 5th Jean-Marie LONDEIX International Saxophone (JMLISC) Competition, the Prix de Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, Lima Symphony Young Artist Competition, the National WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition and the Empire State Music competition. She is also a concerto competition winner of the University of Michigan and the Bowling Green University. Zhang performed in masterclasses around the world with renowned teachers Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Timothy McAllister, Arno Bornkamp, Otis Murphy, Kenneth Tse, Masataka Hirano and Habanera Quartet.

Dr. Matt Evans is an award-winning soloist, chamber musician, and educator who has performed and taught across the globe. Currently a saxophonist in the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Matt also serves as Instructor of Saxophone at Virginia Commonwealth University. Matt is a founding member of the award-winning chamber ensembles Project Fusion, the Zzyzx Quartet, and the Eastman Saxophone Project. Matt studied with Dr. Otis Murphy and Dr. Chien-Kwan Lin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Eastman School of Music, respectively, earning the highest performance distinction - the Performer’s Certificate - at both schools. Matt is Yamaha Performing Artist and a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist-Clinician.

Sky Macklay (b. 1988) is a composer, oboist (with Ghost Ensemble), and installation artist based in Baltimore, where she is Assistant Professor of Composition at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Her music is conceptual yet expressive, exploring extreme contrasts, surreal tonality, audible processes, humor, and the physicality of sound. She has been commissioned by Chamber Music America (with Splinter Reeds and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble), the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (with Ensemble Dal Niente), the Barlow Endowment (with andPlay), and The Jerome Fund for New Music. Sky’s work has also been recognized with awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP, MacDowell, and Civitella Ranieri. Recent projects include an opera set in a uterus, a set of mnemonic songs for mushroom hunters (for Loadbang), and three interactive installations of harmonica-playing inflatable sculptures.

Jason Charney's practice occupies two distinct (but overlapping) realms: multimedia art and music. I am a composer and performer of music for instruments, voices, and electronics. My compositions are born from direct collaboration with performers, and often includes electronic/acoustic interactions. As an electroacoustic performer, I am interested in connecting to audiences through embodied gesture, novel interfaces, and improvisation, using hardware synthesizers and computer code. My art explores how our psyches shape and are shaped by the tools we use, both consciously and subconsciously. How do we adjust our interpersonal relationships, our modes of perception, and even our bodies in order to communicate with and through technology? How can the errors and failures of technologies expose the limits of its abilities – and shape our trust in their ability to convey our intentions? In my process, I investigate the human interface with technology, and especially the unreliable translations between the natural and artificial, the physical and digital, and the embodied and electronic. These themes manifest in multimedia installations and performances, often employing custom software and digital/physical hybrids to create sound, animation, and light in real-time generative systems.

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