Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra were delighted to perform at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Harrington on Sunday 15 October, for the 2023 Harrington Concert Series.
Back by popular demand after a very well received performance as part of last year’s concert series, the orchestra delivered a varied programme with music ranging from the 16th Century to the modern day, including the very first public performance of Journey Home, a piece written especially for Phoenix by renowned saxophonist, Mick Foster and The Oily Rag, a piece gifted to the orchestra by Antipodean composer Richard Percival.
The orchestra also reprised the dramatic finale from a recent joint concert with their fellow Royal Philharmonic Society Award nominees Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra – an arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, specially arranged for the two orchestras by Scottish composer Catriona Melville-Mason.
Benedict Cadbury from Harrington Concerts said: “The concert was a great success and much enjoyed by all who attended. We’d like to thank everyone involved, and particularly Phoenix Musical Director Tony Rifugiato for masterminding such an interesting and varied programme. It was very impressive to hear The Hebrides Overture arranged for 15 saxophones, and likewise the Gabrieli Canzon, where the orchestra certainly achieved the antiphonal effect and rich sonority required by the piece. We look forward to welcoming Phoenix back to Harrington again in the future.”
The orchestra is now working on a festive repertoire for two Christmas concerts they have coming up – at Desborough Library and Community Hub on 9 December, and St Helen’s Church Sibbertoft on 15 December.
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With thanks to Nicola Bashforth for the photographs
