Artvark Saxophone Quartet - Apollo and Artvark - Two Saxophone Quartets Collide and Merge (Manchester - Rotterdam) (2019)

Originally from Manchester, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet is a classic ensemble with a solid sound and fabulous technology. They play a wide repertoire of music from major contemporary composers to cross-overs to jazz and far beyond. In addition to composers such as Richard Rodney Bennett, Michael Nyman, Graham Fitkin & Michael Torke, they have also collaborated with Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Chick Corea, Iain Ballamy & Julian Arguelles. On their latest CD "Perspectives," they recorded music with, among others, jazz legend Bob Mintzer. In their 30-year history, the quartet has won many prizes such as the Erasmus Concours (NL), Tokyo International Chamber Music Competition, Royal OverSeas League and Tunnell Trust. The group tours around the world and met the Dutch jazz saxophone quartet Artvark in South Africa.

Artvark is a remarkable Rotterdam saxophone quartet that has collaborated with a wide variety of artists, including drum giant Peter Erskine (USA), the Senegalese master drummer Doudou N’Diaye Rose, the classical soprano Claron McFadden and the Dutch-Cameroonian singer Ntjam Rosie. They regularly play at important festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Bohemia Jazz Festival and Jazz Brugge. When Artvark and Apollo met in 2014, a click immediately came up. Four years later the collaboration is a fact: "Artvark and Apollo - Two Quartets Collide & Merge": they collide and blend literally, in a unity of diversity, from introverted to hard swinging, from minimal music to jazz-inspired improvisations. Manchester meets Rotterdam!

Artvark (NL - Rotterdam):

- Rolf Delfos - alto saxophone
- Bart Wirtz - alto saxophone
- Mete Erker - tenor saxophone
- Peter Broekhuizen - baritone saxophone

Apollo (UK - Manchester)

- Rob Buckland - soprano saxophone
- Carl Raven - alto saxophone
- Andy Scott - tenor saxophone
- Jim Fieldhouse - baritone saxophone