Noir Quartet – 10 Hour Bach Marathon at Union Station
ADDRESS
Union Station, North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA, USAADDRESS DETAILS
Waiting HallTIME
March 24, 20183:00 PM - 3:50 PM
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PROGRAM
Bachground: Noir Quartet (comprised of Dr. Lee Worley Raby, Steven Ragsdale, Nicholas Casillas & Dr. Cameron Domingues) is a southern California based saxophone quartet featuring classical, contemporary, jazz, and popular works. The group was formed over a lunch in 2013. Cameron and Lee, went to school together at USC’s Thornton School of Music and have worked together in various musical capacities, including chamber ensembles, orchestras, wind ensembles, recording sessions, and new music performances. Nicholas Casillas, a graduate of UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, merged his talents with Noir Quartet shortly after. The newest addition to the quartet, Steven Ragsdale, a graduate of Cal-State Fullerton, joined in 2016. Together, these four saxophonists and educators blend their artistry, creating a unique and captivating ensemble. They perform a variety of repertoire, including everything from Bach to Ellington, as well as new music written for the saxophone quartet idiom.
Thinking Bach: We love performing the music of J. S. Bach because of the challenge that his music brings and the many types of interpretations to explore. We love a good challenge! Bach’s music lends itself to being performed as if it was improvised on the spot. The harmonic and contrapuntal structures have laid the foundation that many following composers through the decades studied. There is so much music by Bach that one could spend a lifetime performing his catalogue alone. One of the greatest challenges performing his music is that he did not have the fortune to write for the saxophone as it was not invented until much later. Thus we must adapt his music and make it our own. Some of these adaptations include phrasing that allows for breathing since we are playing wind instruments, changing the key of the original piece to better fit the range of the saxophone, and arranging pieces to suit four saxophones. Ideally as we absorb the music of J.S. Bach we leave more of these concepts to the mercy of the moment dictated by our interaction with the audience.
BitS LA Impact: This will be our 4th year playing with Bach in the Subways LA. The audience is always so warmly welcoming of our performance of his music. The whole event gives Bach a chance to feel like a rock star. There are “oohs” and “ahhs,” followed by cheers that come over the crowd. This just makes it exciting for us to see people enjoying this music that we love so much. It is the greatest feeling to be able to share that with the visitors at Union Station. It also gives us an opportunity to share with the audience what the saxophone can do in a not-so-standard idiom. We believe that if the saxophone had existed during Bach’s time, he would have written music for it.