Amstel Quartet Remco Jak, soprano saxophone Olivier Sliepen, alto saxophone Bas Apswoude, tenor saxophone Ties Mellema, baritone saxophone “The men of the Amstel have no fear,” exclaimed the Dutch press about The Amstel Quartet, winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Its performances are riveting, filled with high energy, emotion and infectious dynamism. Its repertoire incorporates traditional works for saxophone quartet, contemporary compositions and interdisciplinary collaborations with dance, musical theatre and video. In the 2008-09 season, the Quartet performs coast-to-coast with recitals at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall and California’s Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series of the Da Camera Society, as well as at venues in Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia and upstate New York. Recent highlights include NYC appearances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, on the Oath Concert for Darfur at the Angel Orensanz Foundation and at the Downtown NYC River to River Festival. The Amstel Quartet’s latest CD, Amstel Peijl, was released on the CAG Records label in late 2008. The disc includes landmark saxophone quartets by Glass and Glazunov and an arrangement of a Fauré quintet with pianist Wijnand van Klaveren. The group has previously released four discs, including their successful debut CD, Straight Lines. Of this disc, one critic correctly claimed “Straight Lines reflects the versatility of the saxophone quartet and how the instruments’ rich sound lends itself so successfully to various musical genres.” As part of CAG’s New Music/New Places initiative, the Quartet has appeared in a special collaboration with video and dance at Monkeytown and on the Barbes Classical series at Barbes Bar and Performance Space, both in Brooklyn. The repertoire of the Amstel Quartet is original and inventive. From the mystery of Bach’s Second Cello Suite in D to Michael Nyman’s music for the film The Piano, the four saxophonists unleash a palpable collective energy and gain fans with each performance. Composers, too, such as György Ligeti, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman and Arvo Pärt, have nothing but praise for the ingenious adaptations written by members of the Quartet. In addition to its recent victory at the CAG Competition, the ensemble garnered top prizes at the International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach, France, the Netherland’s Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition and Ohio’s Chamber Music in Yellow Springs Competition. The Amstel Quartet has been heard in venues around the world including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vredenburg in the Utrecht, Sogukado Hall in Tokyo, Japan, the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt and toured Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Czech Republic.