CySO tribute to Adolphe Sax, father of the saxophone

The Cyprus Symphony Orchestra www.cyso.org.cy will pay tribute to the 200th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, with an evening concert series in Larnaca and Nicosia on April 10 and 11.
Adolphe Sax was a Belgian instrument maker, a flutist and clarinet player. Besides developing important improvements to the clarinet and other wind instruments, he invented the saxophone in 1842. His invention was ridiculed by conservative critics, but enthusiastically supported by Hector Berlioz and few other open-minded musicians.
With polish conductor Maciej Zoltowski and soloist Theodore Kerkezos (saxophone), the CySO will present two works of the 20th century for saxophone and orchestra: the Ballade for alto saxophone, strings, piano and percussion by Frank Martin and the Cretan Concertino for alto saxophone and orchestra by Mikis Theodorakis.
Swiss composer Frank Martin wrote the Ballade in 1938, initiating a series of ballads for solo instruments accompanied by a piano or a chamber orchestra. The Cretan Concertino for alto saxophone and orchestra is an arrangement of Theodorakis’ Sonatina for violin and piano no 1 (1952), written by Yiannis Sambrovalakis (a musicologist and clarinetist) in 2005, for the virtuoso saxophonist Theodore Kerkezos.
The concerts will also include the work Die schoene Melusine (The fair Melusina) by Felix Mendelssohn based on a legend that dates back many centuries and appears in many variations. It is about a mermaid who marries a man of nobility, whose name in one variation is Lusignan (the French kings of Cyprus). Her request was that her husband never asks where she goes on Saturdays, as that was the day she has to transform into her original mermaid form. Lusignan's curiosity does not allow him to keep his promise, and the couple' s happiness is lost forever.
The final performance will be the Symphony in D major by Spanish composer Juan Crisostomo Arriaga. His Symphony in D major is the only symphony that he composed and one of his last works.
The concerts will take place in Larnaca on Thursday, April 10, Municipal Theatre, 20:30; and, in Nicosia on Friday, April 11, Pallas Theatre, Paphos Gate, 20:30.
Tickets available at the theatre box offices (Tel. 24 665794, 22410181) €12 and €7 (18-26 years old and pensioners). Free entrance for children under 18.
For information call 22 463144.
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