The Italian Saxophone Quartet, with its 38 year history, is one of the longest-lived groups currently active on the world stage.
Over 40 compositions written by eminent contemporary composers have been dedicated to the ISQ. The ISQ has performed the world and/or European premieres of many eminent composers such as Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Luciano Berio, Salvatore Sciarrino, Franco Donatoni, Henri Pousseur, and the American composer Joe Harnell.
In 1992 the ISQ organized the 10th World Saxophone Congress in Pesaro (Italy), the birthplace of Rossini, in the city’s historic Rossini Theatre named for the great famous composer. This festival saw, for the first time, the presence of 550 soloists and groups from 22 countries around the world. The event was awarded the “Kaleidoscope Award” by the commission of the European Community.
Highlights of the ISQ’s international touring include two concerts on the venerable Dumbarton Oaks series in Washington, DC and four on the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles; the Bermuda International Festival; the Alicante Festival (Spain), the Oleg Kagan Musikfest in Munich (Germany, and the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut (Lebanon).
The ISQ has given over 140 concerts in the last four years alone. Their 2019/20 schedule include important festivals such as Festival delle Nazioni (Italy), the Palaces of St. Petersburg Festival (Russia), the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Chamber Series (Russia), Palaces of Crimea International Music Festival, and performances in concert series in Berlin, Vienna, Cairo, Yerevan (Armenia) and many Italian cities.
The award-winning Italian Saxophone Quartet was founded in 1982 by four saxophone soloists, close friends determined to join together to perform chamber music for saxophone at the very highest artistic level. Since then, they have played to wide acclaim in more than 500 concerts for leading presenters in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan, USA, Sweden, Lebanon, Bermuda and Russia. The quartet’s concerts have been recorded and broadcast by the Italian RAI-Radio 1 and RAI-Radio 3 as well as by Swedish, German, Japanese and American national radios.
Among their important projects, the quartet has performed Luciano Berio’s “Outis” with the Symphony Orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. They appeared as soloists with the Malipiero Symphony Orchestra in works by Piazzolla and Dubois, and collaborated with the Fonè String Quartet on the creation a new arrangement of the Art of the Fugue by J.S. Bach for string and saxophone quartets, which was premiered at the XXII International Chamber Music Festival in Asolo.
The Italian Saxophone Quartet annual tours of the United States have brought them to New York City, the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, and venues in California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Idaho, Alaska and now Rhode Island.
A highlight of the current season is their Washington DC début with two concerts on the prestigious Dumbarton Oaks series. International activities include concerts at the Bermuda International Festival, the Alicante Festival (Spain), the Oleg Kagan Musikfest in Munich (Germany), the Palaces of St. Petersburg Chamber Music Festival (Russia), and the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut.