Harborough sax orchestra and patron Gerard McChrystal join forces for St Hugh’s Church fundraiser

The Sunday afternoon concert will combine solo pieces from Gerard and ensemble pieces from the orchestra, culminating in a performance of ‘Concertino’, a funky new concerto by Australian composer Matthew Orlovich, that Phoenix will be performing with Gerard taking the lead on solo alto saxophone.

Multi award winning saxophonist Gerard McChrystal was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and now lives in Leicester. He has played with leading musicians and orchestras in more than 35 countries worldwide and has recorded 15 CDs.

Through its three movements, Concertino ebbs and flows between buoyant, sparkling music and slower, more introspective lyricism. The soloist’s narrative draws on a variety of musical ideas, including some courage-inducing fanfares, a heart-felt aria and some altissimo register tightrope walking. The sax orchestra’s fingers are kept busy throughout, with soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxophones creating a kaleidoscopic setting for the soloist, by layering snippets of melody, trills, drones, some pizzicato-like punctuations and occasional slow-burning chord progressions.

Tickets for the concert are £12 each (£5 for under 16s), and all profits will go to the St Hugh’s Cygnet Fundraising Project, which aims to build a welcoming, safe space for church and community to meet. Partly funded by proceeds from the sale of the nearby church hall, the Cygnet Project aims to provide a larger community space within St Hugh’s Church, separated from the worship area by a movable glass screen, along with a meeting room, kitchen, accessible toilets and storage, all reconfigured on one level for ease of access.

The Cygnet Project is so named because the Church’s patron saint St Hugh is known to have had a swan as a pet. The Church is starting with a cygnet so that, over time, when the project is finished, it will have grown into a swan.

The concert starts at 3.30pm and tickets are available by emailing [email protected].

You can find more information about Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra and the concert at phoenixsax.org.uk and more about Gerard McChrystal at saxsaxsax.com. For more information about St Hugh’s and the Cygnet Fundraising Project, see harborough-anglican.org.uk.