Artvark and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet met for the first time whilst both groups
were on tour in South Africa in 2014.
As a contemporary classical quartet, with a big sound, great technique and performance the Apollo Quartet present a huge repertoire of commissioned music from the great contemporary composers of our time, to crossovers in jazz and beyond. Alongside composers such as Richard Rodney Bennett, Michael Nyman, Graham Fitkin & Michael Torke, they have also collaborated with Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Chick Corea, Iain Ballamy & Julian Arguelles, and a track on their latest CD 'Perspectives' features jazz giant Bob Mintzer. In the beginning of their
long existence they have won the Erasmus Competition (NL) and the Tokyo International Chamber Music Festival, and the group now tours internationally.
Jazz quartet Artvark played at major festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Bohemia Jazz Festival, Jazz Brugge and toured in Ireland, Turkey and South Africa. They have collaborated with a huge variety of artists, including the legendary drummer Peter Erskine (USA), Senegalese master drummer Doudou
N'Diaye Rose, the classical soprano Claron McFadden and Ntjam Rosie from Cameroun. In 2017, after several intense and fruitful collaborations over the past few years, Artvark released a new album as a quartet: ‘TRANCE’.
There was an immediate chemistry between both quartets: the mutual musical respect was evident and a great friendship soon arose. Plans were immediately made to undertake something together somewhere in the future….
Four years later this collaboration actually took place: 'Artvark and Apollo - Two Quartets Collide & Merge’. Artvark flew to Manchester for some intense rehearsals with the eight saxophonists, each one of them having written an original composition especially for this new ensemble. The result was beyond expectation:
a hugely versatile program with eight strong pieces that excite and inspire all of the musicians. It is a unity in diversity, music that ranges from spherical and atmospheric to driving grooves and pieces with elements of minimal music contrasted with jazz inspired improvisations. The sound possibilities are endless
and the two quartets can’t wait to share this music with audiences everywhere. "In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed" - Charles Darwin |
