for saxophone quartet
written for Ensemble du Bout du Monde
Noa Mick
Don-Paul Kahl
Kay Zhang
Quentin Darricau

Stromateis: ...emergence...

"I arrived in Mexico city and was whisked off to a concert at El Colegio Nacional. It was the spanish quartet of 4 saxophones Sigma Project playing the world premiere of Alberto Posadas’s new three piece cycle 'Poética del Laberinto'. This was wonderful opportunity to catch up, with the magnificently accurate, inventive and awe inspiring performance by the spaniards. I thought this sort of precision could come only from a quartet of strings". 
Irvine Arditti (june, 2017)

SIGMA PROJECT www.sigmaproject.es is the New Saxophone in Europe, is more than a saxophone quartet. It is the realization of a wish came true, an essential vehicle for instrumental music in the 21st century. Just as the string quartet was the instrument par excellence for art music in past centuries, SIGMA Project claims this role in the 21st century for the saxophone quartet.
During its already long career, SIGMA Project has performed more than 150 concerts across half the world – not only in auditoriums in the United States, Argentina (Teatro Colón), Mexico (Palacio de Bellas Artes), Chile, Germany, Scotland, France, Italy, Poland and Romania but also in festivals such as the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, the Hannöversche Gessellschaf für Neue Musik, the Gare du Nord in Basel, the ENSEMS in Valencia, the Donostia-San Sebastían Musical Fortnight, the Música(s) Contemporánea(s) in the Teatro Central of Seville, the Temporadas of the CNDM, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Operadhoy-Musicadhoy in Madrid, among others.
SIGMA Project has its own record label, Sigmarecords, and has edited the CD Utopías: New Music for Saxophone Quartet and the DVD The Music for saxophone by Félix Ibarrondo. Additionally, they have recorded for WERGO (Alberto Posadas's 'Poetics of the Labyrinth' cycle), he BBVA Foundation (José Manuel López López and Gerardo Gombau monographs), Orpheus Classical (María Eugenia Luc monograph), Casa Velázquez-Académie de France in Madrid (Víctor Ibarra monograph) and, invited by the German Foundation Ernst Von Siemens Musikstiftung and with the label Col Legno, the Simone Movio monograph.
SIGMA Project’s work is supported by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música, the Etxepare Basque Institute of the Basque Government and the German Foundation Ernst Von Siemens Musikstiftung.

MAURIZIO BARBETTI won the  International Darmstadt Prize and the "Iannis Xenakis International Prize of Interpretation" in Paris. He played  as contemporary music soloist in the most important concert halls of the world: Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Berlin Philharmonic; Berlin Radio (playing “Mixtur” by Karlheinz Stockhausen at the presence of the composer); Salzburg Mozarteum; Opéra de Nice; Venezia Biennale; Gulbenkian Foundation; Hamburg (Staatsoper); Cochrane Theatre London; Darmstadt; Köln (Wdr); Witten, Frankfurt; Hannover; Heilbronn; Rottenburg (Südwestfunk); Wurzburg; Bonn; Bremen (Radio Bremen); Dresden; Leipzig; München (Konzerthaus) (Bayerisher Rundfunk); Freiburg; Baden Baden; Belfast (Bbc); Paris (Radio France); Strasbourg (European Parliament); Lyon (Grame); Orléans (Semaines Musicales Internationales); Lille; Siena (Accademia Chigiana); Milan (Triennale of Contemporary Art); Rome (Teatro Nazionale); Venice ( Sonopolis Teatro La Fenice); Turin; Madrid (Centro Bellas Artes); Conservatory of Milan; Oporto; Mexico (Festival Internacional Cervantino); Rottherdam (Igic); Tel Aviv; Jerusalem; Bucharest (Ateneum); Innsbruck (Konservatorium); Finland (Time of Music); Vienna; Sapporo; Tokyo and many others He played as soloist with prestigious ensembles like Ensemble Köln (where he was principal soloist viola from 1992 to 1996); Ensemble Recherche Freiburg; Concorde Ensemble Dublin; Icarus Ensemble; Roma Sinfonietta and with important orchestras like Orchestre de l'Opéra de Nice, Rte Dublin Concert Orchestra; Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia; Euroasian Philharmonic Orchestra of Seul. He performed the first Irish performance of Chemins II by Berio for viola and orchestra with the Radiotelevision Concert Orchestra of Dublin conducted by Friedrich Goldmann. (The conductor of Luigi Nono’s “Prometeo”). The concert was broadcasted live by BBC Radio3. Composers from all over the world dedicated to him many works among them Luis De Pablo, Horatiu Radulescu, Paul Mefano and Ennio Morricone of whom he performed and recorded in world premiere the  concert for viola. He collaborates with the “Living Theater” of New York. Maurizio Barbetti has given master classes in important institutions: Irino Foundation Prize of Tokyo; Kunitachi College of Music (Tokyo); Tokyo Gakugei University; Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music (Tokyo); Vitasaari Summer Academy (Finland); Centro Nacional de Bellas Artes of Mexico City; Accademia Internazionale della Musica of Milano; Lucero Master Class in Paris. He recorded for the German, French, Swisse; English, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Rumanian, Austrian and Israeli radio and television broadcasting. He teached in many Conservatories: Mantova, La spezia, Matera and Reggio Emilia. He records cd for Col Legno (Vienna), Neos (Germany), Stradivarius (Milano) and Mode (New York). His latest CD dedicated to Kurtag has been reviewed with 5 stars by "The Irish Time" and "The Independent" London.

I'm an Irish composer, sound engineer/programmer and improviser with a research interest in the philosophy of sound, music and aesthetics. 
If you want to collaborate or chat, send me a message here or via email.
Please see my links for more information.
Thanks for visiting, 
Ben

link to spotify below (for better recordings)

Stromateis: ...emergence...

Arash Yazdani