Italian Saxophone Quartet

The Italian Saxophone Quartet was founded in 1982 by four soloists and close friends committed to chamber music for saxophone. The ensemble has performed more than five hundred concerts in Italy and internationally, with appearances in France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan, the United States, Sweden, Lebanon, Bermuda and Russia. Its concerts have been recorded and broadcast by RAI Radio 1 and Radio 3, as well as by national broadcasters in Sweden, Germany, Japan and the United States.

The quartet won the unanimous first prize and a special prize at the Premio Ancona chamber music competition. Its projects have included performances of Luciano Berio’s Outis with the orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1999, and appearances as soloists with the Malipiero Symphony Orchestra in music by Pierre Max Dubois and Astor Piazzolla. With the Fonè String Quartet, it developed a new arrangement of Bach’s The Art of Fugue for string and saxophone quartets, premiered at the twenty-second International Chamber Music Festival in Asolo.

From 2002, its United States tours brought it to New York, including a showcase at the Arts Presenters Conference, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and venues in California, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Idaho and Alaska. Other international appearances have included the Bermuda International Festival, the Alicante Festival, the Oleg Kagan Musikfest in Munich, the Palaces of St Petersburg Chamber Music Festival and the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut.

Its discography includes two recordings for Delos, a contemporary music recording for Pentaphon and The Italian Way for Da Vinci Classics.

The musicians on The Italian Way are Federico Mondelci, soprano saxophone; Davide Bartelucci, alto saxophone; Pasquale Cesare, tenor saxophone; and Michele Paolino, baritone saxophone.