Peoples' Symphony Concerts: Kenari Quartet

• Bob Eason, soprano saxophone
• Kyle Baldwin, alto saxophone
• Corey Dundee, tenor saxophone
• Steven Banks, baritone saxophone

Astor Piazzolla — Adiós Nonino
Johann Sebastian Bach — Italienisches Konzert ("Italian Concerto"), BWV 971
Jennifer Higdon — Short Stories for saxophone quartet (selections)
Joel Love — In Memoriam
William Bolcom / Robert Schumann — Schumann Bouquet
David Maslanka — Recitation Book

A "sheer musical delight" with a fresh take on Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Bach's Goldberg Variations, plus some fascinating new works from these four virtuosi saxophone players.

About Kenari Quartet

Applauded for their “flat-out amazing” performances and “stunning virtuosity” (Cleveland Classical), the highly acclaimed Kenari Quartet delivers inspiring performances that transform the perception of the saxophone. The quartet aims to highlight the instrument’s remarkable versatility by presenting meticulously crafted repertoire from all periods of classical and contemporary music.

The Kenari Quartet has found a home performing on many of the premiere chamber music series in the United States. Recent engagements include appearances at Chamber Music Northwest, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and Chamber Music Tulsa, among others. For many chamber music institutions, the Kenari Quartet has been proud to serve as the first ensemble of its kind to be presented.

In addition to cultivating the highest level of performance, the Kenari Quartet has a deep passion for collaboration and innovation. Most recently, the quartet premiered J.P. Redmond’s "9×9: Nine Pieces for Nonet" alongside the inimitable Imani Winds. As a testament to the flexibility of the saxophone quartet, the Kenari Quartet was recently a featured artist in Baldwin Wallace Conservatory’s 86th Annual Bach Festival. Here, they collaborated with faculty, student musicians, and academics to present an unprecedented residency centering around the influence of J.S. Bach on the late composer David Maslanka, as well as improvisation throughout musical history.

Formed in 2012 at Indiana University, the quartet’s name is derived from the Malay word “kenari,” which may be translated as “songbird.” Expanding on the age-old idea that birds communicate through song, the Kenari Quartet seeks to exemplify this concept through concert hall performances. By not only connecting with their audiences via song, but also through physical movement, Kenari amplifies the standard concert experience with their striking visual communication and powerful stage presence.

https://www.kenariquartet.com/

About Peoples' Symphony Concerts

Peoples' Symphony Concerts mission is to serve the citizens of the New York area who are on a limited budget by presenting classical music performances of the highest caliber at affordable ticket prices.

https://www.pscny.org/

About Bob Eason, soprano saxophone

Hailed by Fanfare magazine for his “exceptional feel for elegance, wit… and tonal beauty,” Dr. Bob Eason is a saxophonist, educator, and clinician. He is Adjunct Instructor of Saxophone at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX where he prepares students of all backgrounds for careers in music.

Eason is in-demand as a soloist, with guest artist residencies at the 2020 Rio Winds Festival (Rio de Janerio), the 2019 XVIII Encuentro Universitario Internacional de Saxofón México (Mexico City), and the 2018 SaxoBang Festival (Taipei). An advocate of diversity in new music, Eason has commissioned works from Viet Cuong, Corey Dundee, Karalyn Schubring, Nina Shekhar, and Carlos Simon, among many others.

Eason is the soprano saxophonist and founding member of the Kenari Quartet, an ensemble that has garnered acclaim through engaging performances, festival and educational residencies, and commissioning projects. Among many competition wins, the Kenari Quartet won the 1st Prize in the inaugural M-Prize competition in 2016. In collaboration with the Naxos music label, the Kenari Quartet released the album "French Saxophone Quartets," which contains many of the saxophone quartet’s most important compositions.

https://www.easonstudios.com/

About Kyle Baldwin, alto saxophone

Kyle Baldwin is currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is teaching a small studio of students and continues performing with the Kenari Quartet. In the summer of 2016, Kyle graduated from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a bachelor’s degree in music performance. There he studied with Dr. Otis Murphy and professor Tom Walsh.

Originally from Fresno, California, he has also studied with Dr. Alan Durst at Fresno State University and Professor Larry Honda at Fresno City College. As a result of winning first prize in the Kings Symphony Young Artists Concerto Competition, Kyle performed Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto with the Kings Symphony. He is a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award Scholarship, a very honorable award given in the Jacobs School of Music, as well as the Marcel Mule Scholarship. At Indiana University, Kyle has performed as a member of the New Voices Opera, the Jacobs School of Music Saxophone Ensemble, and the Symphonic Band.

Much of Kyle’s college career has been devoted to premiering new works for saxophone. He has collaborated with several composers in the Fresno State composition department where he has worked with Joey Bohigian, Luffy Baliey, Dr. Benjamine Boone, and Dr. Kenneth Froelich. He has also had the honor of premiering Benjamine Boone’s Ascencion: An Etho-Historical Cantana with the Fresno State Choir as a featured soloist. Kyle enjoys experimenting with new approaches to classical music through unique instrumentation and new performance concepts.

https://www.kenariquartet.com/kyle-baldwin/

About Corey Dundee, tenor saxophone

Los Angeles-based composer and saxophonist Corey Dundee composes music he describes as “rhythmic ridiculousness written in a quasi-atonal yet esoterically functional harmonic language.” Critics have essentially said as much in far less flowery English, characterizing his sonic aesthetic as “trippy dream music” (casual university acquaintance) and “falling down a black rabbit hole” (six-year-old concert-goer in Norfolk, CT).

Recently awarded a fellowship to attend the Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Composition Studies at the 2022 Aspen Music Festival, Corey is also a recipient of Chamber Music America's coveted Classical Commissioning Grant, and he was named Honorable Mention for MTNA’s Distinguished Composer of the Year award in 2018. He has undertaken an Artist Residency at the Kimmel Harding Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, and his music has been commissioned by performers and ensembles including saxophonist Timothy McAllister, the Michigan Music Teachers Association, the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, and the Taos Chamber Music Group.

As a performer, Corey is the tenor saxophonist of Kenari Quartet, a First-Place Laureate Ensemble of the inaugural M-Prize Chamber Arts competition and recipient of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s 2023 Ann Divine Educator Award. Independently, Corey has appeared as featured soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, the Interlochen Philharmonic, and the UNC School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra. In April of 2012, he performed on stage with singer-songwriter Ben Folds at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for Arts Advocacy Day 2012. Corey can be heard on NPR’s Telarc-label CD titled “From the Top at the Pops,” performing the third movement of Russell Peck’s "The Upward Stream" tenor saxophone concerto with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

Corey recently earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he also served as a Graduate Student Instructor for courses in Music Theory, Aural Skills, and Composition. He previously earned an MM Composition degree from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, in addition to BM degrees in Composition and Saxophone Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Corey has studied composition with Chris Theofanidis, Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Bright Sheng, Donald Crockett, Ted Hearne, Samuel Adler, Don Freund, and Claude Baker, and his primary saxophone instructors have included Otis Murphy, Taimur Sullivan, and Timothy McAllister. Outside of composing and performing, Corey’s interests include photography, snowboarding, and hip-hop dance.

http://www.coreydundee.com/

About Steven Banks, baritone saxophone

Winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Steven Banks (b. 1993) is an ambassador for the classical saxophone, establishing himself as both a compelling and charismatic soloist, dedicated to showcasing the vast capabilities of the instrument, as well as an advocate for expanding its repertoire. Steven is also the first saxophonist to capture First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions (2019). He was also recently chosen to join WQXR’s 2022 Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of artists and support the future of classical music.

Steven has recently appeared as soloist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, Colorado Music Festival, Colorado Symphony, Utah Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and on subscription with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing with such conductors as John Adams, Peter Oundjian, Earl Lee, Xian Zhang, Nicholas McGegan, and Rafael Payere. Upcoming orchestral engagements include the Kansas City Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, New World Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Steven is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education, performance, and newly commissioned works in the classical realm. He presented at the TEDxNorthwesternU 2017 conference presenting his dynamic approach to overcoming institutionalized prejudices against women and people of color, and he has written and given lectures on the history of black classical composers. He also collaborated with flutist Anthony Trionfo and violinist Randall Goosby to create the Learning to Listen roundtable, a discussion on the nuances of the Black experience in classical music and beyond. In partnership with the Sphinx Organization, they also created the Illuminate! series, which opened three essential conversations on the subject of music education, artist activism, and the LGBTQIA+ community in classical music.

Steven has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Saxophone Performance with a minor in Jazz Studies from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and Master of Music degree from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.

http://steven-banks.com/