Saxback Ensemble
Concert

Saxback Ensemble
Louise MarcillatEb & Bb clarinets
Nicolas Arsenijevicsoprano,alto saxophone
Cécilia Lemaitre SgardBb clarinet & bass clarinet
Tom Caudellesaxhorn
Antonin Pommeltenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Paul Lamarquebaritone saxophone

An original wind sextet, this atypical ensemble offers a resolutely modern and daring take on wind instruments. Drawing on the legacy of the brilliant inventor Adolphe Sax (father of the bass clarinet, saxophone family and saxhorns), the six musicians of the Saxback Ensemble, graduates of the Paris and Lyon Conservatoires and the Amsterdam Conservatoire, develop the group's artistic identity around transcriptions and custom creations, collaborating with talented arrangers and composers.

In 2018, Saxback won 2nd prize in the "M-Prize" International Chamber Music Competition in the USA, and toured South Korea the following year (Special Guest at the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival, Daejeon Cosmopolitan Music Festival). The two highlights of 2024 were an eight-concert tour of Korea and a premiere by young composer Tatiana Probst, co-commissioned by the Festival International de Musique de Besançon.

The group's concerts revolve around modular programs: Retour (D.Milhaud, B.Dessner, J.S.Bach, E.Goubert, H.Berlioz), Tragic Love (S.Prokofiev, L.Bernstein, J.Sibelius), or the ambitious Lumière Noire.
The group also offers a Ciné-Concert based on two short films by Buster Keaton, as well as an educational project for art schools, Une journée avec Adolphe Sax. L'Union des six Saxbackers' vocation is to carry the voice of wind instruments loud and clear, continuing to offer together the values of pleasure and shared emotions with a varied and curious public.