A saxophone workshop organised by Market Harborough’s Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra last weekend attracted a record 28 saxophonists, who came from as far afield as Kent to play and learn from professional saxophonist Alastair Penman. This is the fifth open workshop run by Phoenix, and the group was delighted to welcome Alastair and 19 guest saxophonists to join nine Phoenix members for the eveRead More…
January 2020 September 2021 Summer 2022 Summer 2023 August 2024 December 2024 Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra is celebrating five years of music making! We’ve gone from strength to strength since we launched in January 2020. Here’s a little flavour of what these first five years have looked like for us… 29
live performances including a concert tour to AberdeenshiRead More…
Phoenix ended their 2024 season with a festive concert at Desborough Library and Community Hub (DLCH) on Saturday 14 December. DLCH Chair Gil Holmes said: “We’d like to thank Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra for coming back to the library to perform for us again this year. The Phoenix concert always feels like the start of Christmas for me, and it was a brilliant evening. Everyone said how much theRead More…
We were thrilled and honoured to perform live for the very first time with our Patron Gerard McChrystal on Sunday 24 November. Held at St Hugh’s Church, Market Harborough, this concert was a sellout and raised an amazing £805 for the St Hugh’s Cygnet Fundraising Project.
The capacity audience was treated to a varied programme that included a number of original compositions for the saxophone tRead More…
Our Patron Gerard McChrystal and our soprano/alto sax player Jane Smith were live on Harborough FM this evening talking about all things sax and the joint fundraising concert we have coming up on 24 November at St Hugh’s Church in Market Harborough. Click on the link below to listen to the interview. Thanks for having us Owen! And to find out more about the concerts we have coming uRead More…
Phoenix got back to rehearsals last Sunday, following another successful season of summer concerts that culminated in a sell out performance at St Mary Magdalene Church in the village of Cottingham, Northamptonshire on 31 August (pictured above). Here are a few more pics from our summer season. Our summer season kicked off on 12 May with our first ever performance at Abington Park in NorthamptRead More…
Phoenix had a surprise visitor to their first 2024 summer performance at the weekend. The orchestra, who were performing in the bandstand at Abington Park, Northampton on Sunday afternoon, were thrilled to see Tom Bruton, owner of their sponsor Saxtet Publications, out in the audience! “It was great to see Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra and to hear lots of Saxtet Publications titles being perfRead More…
We were delighted to welcome our Patron, world-renowned saxophonist Gerard McChrystal, to our rehearsal recently to work through a new, modern concerto by Australian composer Matthew Orlovich. This exhilarating piece, ‘Concertino’, is a concerto in three movements that Phoenix is planning to perform live in November, with Gerard taking the lead on solo alto saxophone. Gerard is a true iRead More…
Sax maestro Dan Forshaw visited Market Harborough at the weekend to run an all day jazz workshop for saxophonists, all keen to try their hand at a bit of improvisation! Organised by Harborough’s Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra, 20 sax players came along to Church Langton Community Hall on Sunday 24 March to work on pieces by Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, to name Read More…
2023 has been a hectic but highly rewarding year for Phoenix, topped off by two Christmas concerts, at Desborough Library and Community Hub on 9 December and at St Helen’s Church, Sibbertoft the following week on 15 December. We’d like to thank everyone who has supported us this year – it’s been a real blast! Here’s a little something to get you in the Christmas spirit, recorded at the St HRead More…