Steven Banks

Performer and composer Steven Banks strives to bring his instrument to the heart of the classical world. He commissions and writes music that expands the repertoire for saxophone, introducing audiences to new possibilities for artistic expression.

Highlights this season include his debuts with the BBC, Indianapolis, Oregon, Montréal and St Louis Symphony orchestras and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performs Joan Tower’s Love Returns, following its world premiere at last year’s Colorado Music Festival.

Other recent premieres include Billy Childs’s Diaspora, Carlos Simon’s hear them, Augusta Read Thomas’s Haemosu’s Celestial Chariot Ride and Christopher Theofanidis’s Visions of the Hereafter, among others.

In recital, he appears with pianist Xak Bjerken at prestigious series throughout the US. As a chamber musician, he enjoys close collaborations with the Miró and Verona quartets, as well as being a founding member of the award-winning all-saxophone ensemble Kenari Quartet.

His compositions are increasingly in demand and he has been commissioned by Young Concert Artists, the chamber music festivals of Tulsa, Tucson, Bridgehampton and Chamber Music North West and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As part of his ongoing advocacy for diversity and inclusion, Steven Banks this season launched the ‘Come As You Are’ project – an innovative community engagement initiative in partnership with orchestras, designed to increase representation in the concert hall through potent community performances and affordable ticket access.

Sacsoffon

Mae’r perfformiwr a’r cyfansoddwr Steven Banks yn gwneud ei orau i ddod â’i offeryn i galon y byd clasurol. Mae’n comisiynu ac yn ysgrifennu cerddoriaeth sy’n ehangu’r repertoire i sacsoffon, gan gyflwyno cynulleidfaoedd i bosibiliadau newydd ar gyfer mynegiant artistig.

Ymhlith uchafbwyntiau’r tymor hwn mae’n ymddangos am y tro cyntaf gyda cherddorfeydd Symffoni’r BBC, Indianapolis, Oregon, Montréal a St Louis a Cherddorfa Ffilharmonig Radio’r Iseldiroedd. Mae hefyd yn perfformio Love Returns gan Joan Tower, yn dilyn ei première byd yng Ngŵyl Gerdd Colorado y llynedd.

Ymhlith premières diweddar eraill mae Diaspora gan Billy Childs, hear them gan Carlos Simon, Haemosu’s Celestial Chariot Ride gan Augusta Read Thomas a Visions of the Hereafter gan Christopher Theofanidis, a mwy.

Mae’n perfformio datganiadau gyda’r pianydd Xak Bjerken mewn cyfresi pwysig ledled yr Unol Daleithiau. Fel cerddor siambr, mae’n mwynhau cydweithio’n agos gyda Phedwarawdau Miró a Verona, yn ogystal â bod yn un o sylfaenwyr yr ensemble sacsoffonau Kenari Quartet, sydd wedi ennill sawl gwobr.

Mae galw cynyddol am ei gyfansoddiadau ac mae wedi cael ei gomisiynu gan Young Concert Artists, gwyliau cerddoriaeth siambr Tulsa, Tucson, Bridgehampton a Chamber Music North West a Cherddorfa Symffoni Chicago.

Fel rhan o’i eiriolaeth barhaus dros amrywiaeth a chynhwysiant, y tymor yma lansiodd Steven Banks y prosiect ‘Come As You Are’ – menter ymgysylltu cymunedol arloesol mewn partneriaeth â cherddorfeydd, wedi’i chynllunio i gynyddu cynrychiolaeth yn y neuadd gyngerdd trwy berfformiadau cymunedol pwerus a phrisiau tocynnau fforddiadwy.