Celebrating the 200th Birthday of Adolphe Sax
Thursday, 6th November was truly an eventful day. Saxophonists and music lovers from across the world celebrated the 200th birthday of Adolphe Sax, the man who invented one of the most expressive and personal instruments ever – in my humble opinion anyway!
Throughout the day I sent out various bits of information, including a number of videos. I won’t post them here but if you visit my Facebook or Twitter pages you can find all the links there.
The video above was shot on the roof of Methodist Central Hall Westminster for the Sax200 concert in Berlin. It’s only short as our lighting nearly ended up on the roof of Westminster Abbey (it was quite windy up there) and then it started to rain. (Perhaps there was something in that ban the Catholic church placed on the saxophone? I jest …)
During the day I popped over to the Poppy Field in Westminster Abbey and was truly moved by the display, even more than when I visited the superb installation at the Tower of London. I was reminded how important our ‘call for peace’ was to the concert in Berlin. Over there they were also celebrating the 25th anniversary (the actual day is Sunday 9th) of the fall of the wall that had divided their city. The very building on which we shot the video (Methodist Central Hall) was the venue for the foundation of the United Nations after the Second World War. And of course 100 years ago the ancestors of all the musicians playing for this event faced each other across the battlefields of Europe.
Let’s make sure that generations to come after us never have to fight each other.
Let’s work for peace and reconciliation, creating a spirit of unity through music.
Let’s speak to each other about ‘A Love Supreme’ …
John Coltrane, one of the greatest musicians ever to pick up a saxophone, said ‘Peace, it is so beautiful … Indeed A Love Supreme, Thank You God.’
Happy #saxophoneday!
P.S Make sure you read the experience of my student Kim, who visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels to view their special Saxophone exhibition!