Baba Yaga (Saxophone and Harp) – Classical Concert Series

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Come along for a fantastic afternoon with a virtuosic Scottish duo for a sublime concert of chamber music.

Karen Dufour and Gwen Sinclair masterfully perform saxophone and harp duets with a varied repertoire ranging from traditional Irish to Mussorgsky.

Be transported with this latest offering of the Classical Concert Series!

Tickets: £15 (or £10 pay less) online (https://www.penicuikarts.org/shop/) or from the Arts Centre café, 4 West St, Penicuik, EH26 9HY.

Biography 

Baba Yaga are the unusual combination of saxophone and the harp. Karen and Gwen met whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and have forged this musical partnership out of a passion for promoting their instruments. Taking advantage of the varied sound colours of harp and saxophone, they explore transcriptions, original compositions and most recently have toured their own arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Gwen has performed with the Orchestra of the Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. As a passionate player of traditional music, as well as classical, Gwen has performed at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Hay Festival, the National Eisteddfod of Wales and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.  2019 saw the launch of her first solo album Mentro, which was long-listed for the Scots Trad Album of the Year award. In 2021 Gwen released an album of Christmas music from the Basque Country: Douze Noëls.  Her playing can also be heard on albums of Gwilym Bowen Rhys and 10 Mewn Bws (2013).  Gwen is a tutor for the Welsh Youth Folk Ensemble, Avanc, and has published three books of music for clàrsach through Alaw Publishing. Some of her arrangements are included in the graded exam syllabuses for Trinity College and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and for Royal National Mòd competitions.

Karen has varied experience of chamber and orchestral music. She has performed with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Karen is soprano saxophonist in the award winning saxophone quartet Sax Ecosse and has performed in Europe and the UK including the Edinburgh International Festival, returning artists at the Emerging Artist Series, in the Usher Hall, Celtic Connections, the World Saxophone Congress, Norway’s St Olav’s Festival, Maltings Theatre and live on BBC Radio Scotland’s Classics Unwrapped. Karen’s most recent project has been working with composer Annabel Kershaw on The Mariner’s Daughter, a piece that brings together the voices of seven women from the Northeast of Scotland and their connections to the North Sea. 

Baba Yaga

Programme

Sunday 10th November 2024 3pm

Penicuik Community Arts Centre, 4 West St, EH26 9DL

Gustav Bumcke

Notturno Op. 45 for alto saxophone and harp

Yusef Lateef

Romance for Soprano saxophone and Harp

Patrick O’Malley

Thaumaturgy, Movement 1. Cast and bend for soprano saxophone and harp

Eddie McGuire

Cowal Colours for soprano saxophone and harp

Natalie Moller

Starshine & Moonfall for alto saxophone and harp

—-  Interval  —-

Andy Scott

Sonata for alto saxophone and harp Movement 1 & 2

Traditional Irish, arr. Daniel Whibley

Casadh an tSúgáin

Modest Mussorgsky

Excerpts from Pictures at an Exhibition arr. Karen Dufour and Gwen Sinclair