The World Saxophone Congress is a festival gathering approximately 1000

saxophonists Instruments key: * s, Sopranino * S, Soprano * A, Alto * T, Tenor * B, Baritone * b, Bass * c, Contrabass (or tubax) * sc, Subcontrabass Indicators key: *X, instrument has been used by person or group *X, instrument has been used by person or ...

and other musicians from all over the world. It is held every three years at a different congress centre in a different country and focuses primarily (although not exclusively) on the performance of classical saxophone music. The Congress presents an opportunity to meet saxophonists from many countries and to listen to various concerts and performances of saxophone soloists, chamber ensembles, big bands and symphony orchestras that run simultaneously throughout the day in different halls of the congress centre. Each of the five days is concluded by an evening concert of the orchestra and outstanding international soloists. It is also convened with the purpose of presenting the advancements of music production and distribution as well as innovations in instrument-making and equipment. The seventeenth World Saxophone Congress, known as SaxOpen, was held between 9 and 14 July 2015 in Strasbourg France.World Saxophone Congress: Strasbourg 2015, retrieved 30 July 201217th World Saxophone Congress 2015
", International Saxophone Committee announcement, May 2012, retrieved 30 July 2012 The eighteenth World Saxophone Congress took place in 2018 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Origins

The World Saxophone Congress was conceived by Paul Brodie (1934 – 2007) and co-founded in 1969 with Eugene Rousseau (1932 - 2024), holding their first Congress in Chicago.Richard Ingham, '' The Cambridge companion to the saxophone'', Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1998, , , 226 pages.
page 48
) Eugene Rousseau writes: :"The most memorable time I spent with Paul rodiewas our December, 1968 meeting in Chicago. It was during this meeting that he articulated his vision of the establishment of a world saxophone congress. It came to fruition in conjunction with the Midwest Band Clinic during the following year. The World Saxophone Congress, thanks to the dream of Paul Brodie, had become established." Paul Brodie himself recalls: :"I went to an accordion congress in Toronto and I was so impressed that I thought "wouldn’t it be great to do this for the saxophone".... The next year I came back to the Midwest Band Clinic. I had written an article for ''Instrumentalist Magazine'' - "Towards a World Saxophone Congress", and I was invited to a meeting of the executive committee and they offered me the grand ballroom of the

Sherman House Hotel The Sherman House (sometimes called, Hotel Sherman) was a hotel in Chicago, Illinois that operated from 1837 until 1973, with four iterations standing at the same site at the northwest corner of Randolph Street and Clark Street (Chicago), Clark S ...

for 16 December 1969. I asked other saxophone players to help me and nobody responded. I called Eugene Rousseau because I had met him in Seattle at a music convention.... So we met in September 1969 at the Holiday Inn at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and we stayed up all night designing the program and started to call everybody the next morning and by the time we held the first congress we thought that maybe 200 people would show up. Well over 500 saxophonists showed up."Paul Brodie: Ambassador of the Saxophone
", interview by Willem Moolenbeek, 10 January 2000. Retrieved 11 November 2011 In 1981, a 7-member International Saxophone Committee (in French, Comite International du Saxophone, CIS). was set up to help organise the Congress.

Performers and participants

Congress performers/participants have included

Frederick Hemke Frederick L. Hemke ''(né'' Fred LeRoy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped to increase the popularity of cla ...

, Eugene Rousseau,

Donald Sinta Donald J. Sinta (born June 16, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American classical saxophonist, educator, and administrator. He earned a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the University of Michigan in 1962. In 1969, he was the ...

, Patrick Meighan, Bruce Faulconer, One O'Clock Lab Band, Lee Patrick, Ronald Caravan, Paul Brodie, Lin Chien-Kwan, Roger Greenberg,

Debra Richtmeyer Debra Richtmeyer is an Americans, American Classical music, classical Saxophone, saxophonist born June 19, 1957, in Lansing, Michigan. Richtmeyer earned her B.M.E. and M.M. at Northwestern University, where she studied with Frederick L. Hemke. Sh ...

, Kyle Horch, the Scottish Saxophone Ensemble, the National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain,World Sax Congress, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 8 July 2006
", The National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain website, retrieved 26 November 2011. and Brian Brown

Venues

The World Saxophone Congress has been held in:

References

Bibliography

*Richard Ingham, ''The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, *Thomas Liley, Paul Brodie, Eugene Rousseau, ''A brief history of the World Saxophone Congress: 1969-2000'', World Saxophone Congress, Published 2003, 42 pages

Origins

Performers and participants

Venues

References

Bibliography

External links