David Kechley began composing as a teen after years spent listening to his composer and music professor father Gerald at the piano. At 19, The Seattle Symphony premiered Second Composition for Large Orchestra and since then more than 1,000 performances of his work in a variety of genres have been performed by orchestras, chamber groups and college musical ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. His music draws from 20th Century classics and from vernacular, popular, and ethnic music. Time spent in Kyoto, Japan, profoundly affected his compositions. His pieces are marked by a distinctive style, but his musical narratives are known for sharp contrasts between lyricism, virtuosity, and dramatic gesture. Kechleys work has been recognized and applauded for nearly 40 years by such organizations as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Born in Seattle, Kechley was educated at the University of Washington, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Case Western Reserve University. He also followed his father into music education, teaching at the University of North Caroline in Wilmington, and teaching and chairing the Music Department at Williams College in Williamstown, MA until his recent retirement as professor emeritus. Frank Bongiorno is a saxophone professor and chair of the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he has taught since 1982. His saxophone and jazz students have received national and international recognition from such organizations as Down Beat magazine and Jazzfest USA. His teaching has been recognized with UNC Wilmingtons 2006 J. Marshall Crews Distinguished Faculty Award, and 2010 Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award, and with the 2011 North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. Bongiorno has performed throughout the country and abroad. His solo compact disc recordings include the critically acclaimed Classic Saxophone, Classic Saxophone, Vol. 2: Musica da camera, and Images, as a member of the Ryoanji Duo. He has recorded a jazz-play-along CD of original compositions, a master class CD on learning to improvise using transcriptions for Jazz Player Magazine, a saxophone vibrato master class CD, and two sets of master class duets published in the Saxophone Journal. He has performed as a supporting musician for the Four Tops, the North Carolina Symphony, Kenny Rogers, Frankie Vallie, Johnny Mathis, and on the movie sound track of Chasers. His publications include saxophone transcriptions of "Classical" music, compositions for jazz combo, paper presentations, a DVD on Basic Reed Maintenance for the Saxophonist, and more than 150 articles and reviews. Bongiorno writes CD reviews for the Saxophone Today and is a coordinating editor for the Saxophone Symposium. He was featured in a front cover interview of the January/February 1993 issue of the Saxophone Journal and is listed in the International Whos Who in Music, Seventeenth Edition and the Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century. Laurent Estoppey (www.laurentestoppey.com) who holds a concert license (master of arts soloist) from the Conservatory of Lausanne, Switzerland has devoted himself to contemporary music while also performing and teaching a classic saxophone repertoire and transcribing baroque music. In numerous collaborations with composers he has created at least 200 works. His discography includes 20 recordings. His musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation, and it occurs throughout Europe, especially Switzerland, but also in Canada, the U.S., Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa. He has worked with an array of orchestras including currently the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. He is the artistic director of Swiss ensemBle baBeland and has founded and developed several chamber music groups, including DEGRE21 (saxophone / guitar with Antonio Albanese), 1+1 (duo/concept with Anne Gillot, recorders) and SF Duo (saxophone / piano with Antoine Franoise). A collaboration with saxophonist Dr. Steve Stusek at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro along with the foundation of COLLAPSS (Collective for Happy Sounds) are his main activities in the United States. He has worked alongside many independent musicians such as Jacques Demierre, Pierre Favre, Pierre Audtat, Malcolm Braff, Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser, Nick Didkovsky, Anthony Coleman and Ikue Mori. Over two decades, Estoppey has taught saxophone to beginners through master students in Switzerland. As a composer, Estoppey writes for concerts, sound installations and video art. He is a reference artist for Italian saxophone makers Rampone-Cazzani and a DAddario Performing Artist. Robert Nathanson, classical and baroque guitarist, is an active recitalist and orchestral soloist, now focusing as an ensemble performer. He has given concerts throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Slovenia, and Canada. He has been performing as part of the Ryoanji Duo (guitar and saxophone) and the North Carolina Guitar Quartet since 1992 and as part of Duo Sureo (guitar and soprano) since 1999. A champion of new music, Nathanson has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by David Kechley, William Neil, Jing Jing Luo, Ernesto Garca de Len, Leo Brouwer, John Anthony Lennon, Ernesto Cordero, Marilyn Shrude, Shih-Hui Chen and others. He has hosted several New Music Festivals inviting composers and performers to the campus of University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is professor of music, to perform, record and conduct master classes. He is also artistic director for PRO MUSICA, a concert series celebrating the music of living composers sponsored by and performed at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC. He has released Images, a CD of all new music for guitar and saxophone, and At the Edge of the Bodys Night, a CD of new music for soprano, saxophone and guitar. A Liscio Recording artist (www.lisciorecordings.com), Nathanson has recorded two solo CDs entitled New York Sally and Exposure. Points of Departure: Five Pieces for Guitar and Saxophone was commissioned by The Ryoanji Duo, Robert Nathanson, guitar and Frank Bongiorno, saxophone. It was premiered at the 2012 World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland. I never imagined in 1992 when I took on the challenge of writing In the Dragons Garden for the unlikely pairing of classical guitar and classical saxophone that I would end up writing four more works in what has turned into a genre. Each time I finished a project, I thought, This is it. Theres nothing left for me to do. Then I would find something that set a new project apart from the one before. I have written two duos for guitar and alto, one for guitar and soprano, and a concerto for guitar, alto, and orchestra. So, it seemed logical next to use alto and soprano in the same work. Since the previous pieces are extended forms in which the movements are connected and played through without pause, Points of Departure presents five discreet movements. The overall title comes from the two opening temple bell strikes by the saxophonist, and the titles of the movements describe their contrasting characters. Recorded and Mixed by Karen Kane Edited by Robert Nathanson Mastered by Toby Mountain, Northeastern Digital Recorded at Low Tide Studio in Wilmington, NC Performed by Laurent Estoppey, saxophones and Robert Nathanson, guitar BOUNCE: Inventions, Interludes, and Interjections was commissioned by The Ryoanji Duo. It was premiered at the 2006 World Saxophone Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Bounce whimsically refers to the character of the opening musical idea. Although the subtitle, Inventions, Interludes, and Interjections implies small, separate pieces, in fact, the music is played without pause, shifting between the characteristic gestures implied by each of these designations. An Invention typically takes a simple idea, such as the opening motive, and builds a structure by exploring its various forms. Interludes by definition tends to be in the middle of things and here they are also identified by their long, more lyrical phrases. Interjections might even be called interruptions and they tend to stop the flow of the music, making us stop and take a breath at strategic points. As the music progresses the form become more continuous, more intense, and more organic as the opening motive evolves, expands and returns precisely to its original form. Recorded by Ian Millard Edited by Robert Nathanson Mixed and Mastered by Toby Mountain, Northeastern Digital Performed by Frank Bongiorno, saxophone and Robert Nathanson, guitar (The Ryoanji Duo) Recorded in Beckwith Recital Hall on the campus of The University of North Carolina Wilmington Sea of Stones: A Concerto for Guitar & Saxophone was commissioned by The Ryoanji Duo. It was premiered at the 2003 World Saxophone Congress in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dedicated to Gerald Kechley for his unwavering support as father and fellow composer Classical saxophone and classical guitar is an unusual pairing, even more so in combination with orchestra. The Ryoanji Duo had previously commissioned two Kechley works, but this time wanted a piece in which ideas from those earlier works could be explored in an orchestral sound world. Sea of Stones was commissioned for premiere at World Saxophone Congress XIII in Minneapolis in July 2003. In the Dragon's Garden (1992) was the first collaboration between Kechley and the Duo and provides the primary point of departure for Sea of Stones. It was inspired by visits to Ryoanji, a temple in Kyoto. The work won the 1995 Lee Ettelson Composer's Award and prompted Frank Bongiorno and Robert Nathanson to name their newly established duo Ryoanji. The influence of "the dragon" in this new work is clear from the opening percussion "roll off" and the many strumming patterns, which create complex textures. The roll off is used in Zen temple ceremonies. At the climatic moment in the final movement, this roll off is reversed. The percussion strokes come further and further apart as the music dies away in a series of episodes that reflect upon earlier musical events. By the end of the piece the strokes are so far apart the pattern is barely discernable. This work creates an intense lyricism through orchestral color, which is particularly apparent in the strings. Although divided into seven movements, they are played without pause and the music flows from one event to the next fully exploring the guitar and saxophone as duo, as two solo instruments, and as a combination with the orchestra. Recorded, Edited and Mixed by Franti?ek Poul Sound Engineering by Vclav Frkal Mastered by Toby Mountain, Northeastern Digital Performed by Frank Bongiorno, saxophone, Robert Nathanson, guitar and the Filharmonia Sudecka, conducted by Joel Suben Recorded at the Filharmonia Sudecka Recital Hall in Wa?brzych, Poland, Artistic Director/Chief Conductor: Jerzy Kosek.