Saxophobia

This year’s Saxophobia music festival will take place from January 31 to February 1, 2026.

The event will introduce the audience to saxophone music and offer various performances, workshops and concerts focused on the saxophone, showcasing its versatility and range in various musical genres.

Two public concerts of Saxophobia will take place in Bratislava!

1. Saxophone Masters Gala Concert

A concert dedicated to the saxophone as an instrument of classical music, featuring seven top foreign lecturers from the Saxophobia Bratislava 2026 masterclasses.

All performers are top, world-renowned artists who also work as teachers at conservatories and universities.

Performers:

Alfonso PADILLA (Spain)
David BRUTTI (Italy)
Philippe PORTEJOIE (France)
𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗔𝗫𝗢𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗧:
Christine RALL (Germany)
Andreas van ZOELEN (Netherlands)
Oscar TROMPENAARS (Netherlands)
Ladislav FANČOVIČ (Slovakia)
Angelina Kydora – piano accompaniment

Programme:

J. S. Bach, Alexander Albrecht, Özkan Manav, Fazil Say and others. The concert will feature compositions by lesser-known but also well-known authors for solo saxophone with piano accompaniment or saxophone quartet, several of which were dedicated to the performers, including several Slovak premieres.

Venue: Primaciálny Palace, Hall of Mirrors
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2026
Start: 7:00 p.m.
Concert duration: 60 minutes without intermission

2. Concert of the 100 participants saxophone orchestra

If you can’t imagine what an orchestra composed solely of saxophones might sound like, come to Slovak Radio on Sunday, February 1.

An orchestra composed of over 100 saxophonists from 11 countries—participants and lecturers of the Saxophobia Bratislava 2026 international saxophone master classes—will present almost all types of saxophones, from soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, and even the rare contrabass saxophone.

Performers:

SAXOPHOBIA ORCHESTRA (SK, CZ, AT, HU, DE, FR, NL, IT, ES, DK, UA)
Conductor: Marián Lejava (SK)
Guests: Kiril Stoyanov (BG) – percussion instruments, Mimosa Quartet (CZ), K. B. Saxophone Octet (SK), Christine RALL (DE), Andreas van ZOELEN (NL), Oscar TROMPENAARS (NL), Alfonso PADILLA (ES)
David BRUTTI (IT), Philippe PORTEJOIE (FR)

Program:

The concert program will be extremely interesting for listeners – it will feature an orchestral repertoire arranged for saxophone orchestra by composers such as J. S. Bach, Béla Bartók, Darius Milhaud, and the world premiere of a composition by Ivan Danko. The program will be complemented by saxophone quartets and chamber ensembles.

Venue: Large Concert Studio of Slovak Radio
Date: Sunday, February 1, 2026
Start: 7:00 p.m.
Concert duration: 70 minutes without intermission

Did you know that the saxophone was patented in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of several musical instruments?

The reason for this “invention” of the young Belgian was that he wanted to (simplistically speaking) construct an instrument that would have the flexibility of the human voice and, with its sound colour, form a kind of imaginary bridge between wind and string instruments in symphony orchestras or in military and marching bands. No one knew about jazz at that time, it was not born on the banks of the Mississippi River until a good 60 years later.

Contemporary composers were captivated by the sound of the new instrument from the start. In 1842, Hector Berlioz wrote an article in the Journal des Débats: “I know of no instrument in use at the present time that can be compared with it. Its sound is full, delicate, radiant, has tremendous power and can be softened”, and in 1844 he was the first in the world to use it in the instrumentation of the Chant sacré.

The saxophone also charmed other greats of Impressionism and the emerging wave of symphonic jazz, who included it in their orchestras – Ravel (Bolero), Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition), Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, etc.), Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Bizet, Berg, Shostakovich, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ibert, Britten, Penderecki, Milhaud, and many others.

We look forward to seeing you!

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