“Thanks for a beautiful program, Andy!”
— Alan Fletcher, President and CEO Aspen Music Festival and School

Programs

Bach, Poetry, and the Greater American Experience

A virtual performance project commissioned and live-streamed by the 2022 Aspen Music Festival and School. Select movements from J.S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suites are performed on the four primary saxophones while being paired on the screen with select poems that share similar spirits. The poems were written by a diverse body of American and Puerto Rican poets (in the public domain), which lends a revealing commentary on events today and our nation’s historic multiculturalism. The power of Bach’s music, fused with the depth of meaning in the poetry, provides a unique, transformative artistic experience for the audience.

Video and audio, live and post-production work completed by Andrew Dahlke.

Full Concert Video

Video Excerpts

Audience Feedback

  • “Andy, thank you for posting this great collection of saxophone performances.  It is so musical and beautiful.  It is your lifetime learning project as something to leave on the planet as a life work.  All of the historical notables would have been so proud and impressed by your scientific artistry.  You did it.  I am so proud of you, everything about this project is remarkable.”  

- Friend, James Garland Riggs, Regents Professor Emeritus, University of North Texas, Denton, TX. 76203

  • Please forgive my delay in getting back to you here, but I was able to view your recent Aspen Armchair Concert performance, and WOW, congratulations!! I just love your playing, and what an incredible performance!  You are truly an amazing colleague, and I value all that you do for not just the saxophone profession, but for UNC!  This is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    - Dr. Wesley J. Broadnax, Director of Bands, University of Northern Colorado

  • Your music opened up the poetry at a deeper level, and allowed my heart to open to each poet, many of whom I’d not heard of until now. It was unexpectedly beautiful, sometimes painful in the words and context of the lives of the poets, and powerful. Again, thanks. Thanks for making yourself, and those poets, visible in this new way.  - Lindy Burnham

  • Just wanted to say I was blown away by your recital tonight! The choice of poetry was mesmerizing along with the music, complementing it so well and so interestingly! I loved especially the extract from the speech of Chief Seattle. It posed such a different way of seeing the world, like the music it accompanied—timeless, or out of time altogether. I commend you for your choices of texts. Loved the “Dewdrops” poem at the end in its fresh simplicity! An hour of deep pleasure, enhanced by your marvelous playing. How do you get those pianissimos to sound so exquisite? Homage to you and all your hard work! It really paid off. - Peter Kahn

  • I very much enjoyed it yesterday, congratulations! The music and performance were excellent, and it was a treat to read the accompanying poems. After the concert I felt at peace.  - Ian Jamison

  • We thank you for performing virtually for the Aspen Music Festival virtual concert series. We listened in awe to your performance tonight, from our home. It was such a treat. Thank you for making it possible for us to hear you play your many instruments! - Anonymous

  • Was finally able to listen to your concert video tonight and I found it very inspirational. Made me read more about Chief Seattle and Myra Viola Wilds. - Chance Davis

  • Beautiful combination of poetry and Bach! The text made me listen to those classics in a new, very enjoyable way. - Zach Childress

  • I just watched your armchair concert with my morning coffee!  So beautiful and inspired/inspiring.  I really enjoyed it.  Each pairing with the poetry was perfect, and each one was my favorite until the next one started, haha.   All so fitting!  Thanks for sharing--beautiful! - Courtney Long


 

Anime’

Music for Soprano Saxophone and Piano

Anime’ - music full of life, energy, and beauty - is an apt title for showcasing the soprano saxophone and this music. Three of the works by Ravel, Poulenc, and Villa-Lobos employ the term as representing the character of a movement. Lessons of the Sky by Rodney Rogers comes from the essay The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley. Here the sky represents that which is open, alive, and infinite. J. S. Bach’s Sixth Flute Sonata is a stunning example of clarity of expression and timeless beauty. The resultant simplicity is seemingly spun from the heavens above. Ravel’s Sonatine, composed for solo piano, promotes elements of tenderness, care, and delicacy in a way which only music can communicate. Poulenc’s Oboe Sonata covers an extreme emotional range, beginning with the Elegie to Prokofieff, the sprightly yet sublimely beautiful Scherzo, and the placid final movement: Deploration. The rhythmic freedom, space, and melodicism of Villa-Lobos’ Fantasia creates an “other-worldy” listening experience of excitement, mystery, and triumph!

Sample MP3 Music Files

“Escapades” from the film Catch Me If You Can

Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra by John Williams

Excerpts with the Gangnam Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Korea, conducted by Suh Hyun Suk.