By Jane Fox
Chamber Music with Saxophone? Absolutely, when it’s with Alison Shearer, a stunning, acclaimed jazz saxophonist with tremendous style, lyricism, and intuition, who is also a flutist and a composer. She will be performing with New Canaan Chamber Music and Artistic Director Andrew Armstrong and five string players. The concert will be Thursday, April 11 at 3 pm and Friday, April 12 at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church New Canaan.
Armstrong says, “Alison will bring all her talents to bear on this program, including “Apollosis”, a piece she has written for sax, string quintet, and piano, whose World Premiere will take place only days before the New Canaan concert.”
With seven highly talented visiting musicians, this is the largest group on stage this season. Armstrong calls it, “A blow-out extravaganza!” They will present one of the most diverse programs ever from New Canaan Chamber Music as it bridges the worlds of jazz and classical music.
“Shearer is a force on the rise,” Jazz Times noted, performing at jazz festivals, performing arts centers, and clubs. She was a founding member of PitchBlak Brass Band, a ten-piece hip hop brass band that received critical acclaim from DownBeat Magazine, NPR, Live for Live Music, The Wall Street Journal, and The Source Magazine.
Shearer has toured extensively around the United States, Canada, and South Asia, performing at jazz festivals, performing arts centers, and clubs. Notable venues include SFJazz Fest, Saratoga Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Music Mela, The Moab Music Festival, Dubai Expo 2020, The Blue Note NYC, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, Bowery Ballroom, Brooklyn Bowl NYC, The Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, and Joe’s Pub among many others. Her debut album “View From Above” was released in 2022 to critical acclaim. She recently joined the faculty of Jazz House Kids.
Other visiting musicians will include Karl Stobbe, violin, recognized as one oof Canada’s most accomplished violinists, Abigél Králik, violin, the only musician listed in the 2020 Forbes Hungary “30 under 30” list; Joan DerHovsepian, viola, newly appointed Principal Viola of the Houston Symphony; Ani Aznavoorian, cello, a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and many others; Marguerite Cox, double bass, currently a fellow in Carnegie Hall’s renowned Ensemble Connect program, New York City; and Andrew Armstrong, founder and artistic director of New Canaan Chamber Music, is a virtuoso pianist who has played worldwide. In February his piano solo album “In Blue” was released on the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” inn Blue.”
They will play together in surprisingly varied ensembles and works, including Apollosis, Shearer’s work for Alto Sax, Strings, and Piano, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Quintet in C minor plus delightful works for instrument pairings such as flute and strings; string trio; violin and piano; and alto Sax and piano.
The season’s final concert will be the Children and Families Concert on May 5 at 3 pm at the New Canaan Library. The 2023-2024 season will begin on November 7 and 8.
New Canaan Chamber Music also performs a growing and inclusive program of outreach programs that bringing great music to seniors, youth orchestras, and local schools in New Canaan, Stamford, and Norwalk.
To purchase tickets visit www.newcanaanchambermusic.org. NCCM is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
