





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 the last five years have looked like for us…
29
live performances including a concert tour to Aberdeenshire, a joint concert with our Patron, Gerard McChrystal and appearances at the Southwell Music Festival, Newark Castle, and other venues across the midlands.

48
pieces of music played, including Journey Home, written especially for Phoenix by Mick Foster

200+
hours of sax rehearsals
with our MD, Tony Rifugiato

£4,000+
raised for local charities and good causes through fundraising performances and a charity Christmas single, created during lockdown, raising £830 for VASL.

5
open sax workshops held, with Gerard McChrystal, Mick Foster and Dan Forshaw

1
national award nomination, with Aberdeenshire Sax Orchestra

2
sponsors, Saxtet Publications and WIseman Cases


102
pieces of media coverage including local TV and national radio appearances


Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra Chair, Stephen Bashforth, said: “Our aim when we set up the orchestra was to provide a vehicle through which we could learn and enjoy playing sax with others, and to demonstrate the range of musical genres that a family of saxophones can master.
“We currently have 16 members playing seven different types of sax, and our audiences have been genuinely amazed at the sound we can produce. Feedback has been truly amazing, with lots of repeat bookings, and we’d like to thank everyone who’s invited us to play and come along to see us perform.
“We’d also like to thank our Patron Gerard McChrystal, our sponsors Saxtet Publications and Wiseman Cases, and all the musicians who’ve joined us on this journey so far. Without their support, the last five marvellous years would not have been possible. We now all look forward with confidence to many more years of music making.”
2025 is set to be another busy year for Phoenix, with several concerts already in the diary, including a concert tour to the Isle of Wight in June and a joint concert with Saxophone Orchestra Manchester in September. We also have an open sax workshop coming up with Alastair Penman on 2 March.
If you’d like to be kept up to date with news and events from Phoenix, you can sign up for our e-newsletter here. And if you’re interested in joining or booking the orchestra, please contact us.