Flotilla are a unique ensemble of saxophonists performing music with a variety of soundworlds: saxophone quartets in the traditional soprano-alto-tenor-baritone formation, but also trios and quartets for saxophones in unusual combinations, and also including piano or synthesizer. A consort of saxophones, rather than a traditional saxophone quartet.

Flotilla’s all-star cast brings together four highly respected instrumentalists with vast experience in saxophone chamber music, as well as strong individual profiles in solo, orchestral, and commercial music. They began working on this project in 2007, and released a CD recording on the Big Shed Music label in March 2009. 

The ensemble’s poetic repertoire of multilayered compositions – by turns clever, thoughtful, vibrant, haunting, elegiac – is a meditation on melody with themes of reflection, echo, and memory at its centre. This music evokes a strong sense of mirroring, not just between the musicians who are placed on an equal footing by the thread of often contrapuntal writing which runs through much of their repertoire, but also between the modern and ancient as the contemporary works draw upon a variety of antecedents including liturgical polyphony, Baroque trio sonata, and folk music.

Kyle Horch: soprano and alto saxophones

Naomi Sullivan: soprano and alto saxophones

Andy Tweed: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones

Alistair Parnell: alto and tenor saxophones, piano, synthesizer

Flotilla’s programmes include works by major international and British composers including Elliott Carter, Jonathan Dove, Edward McGuire, and William Sweeney. Committed to developing a distinctive repertoire, the group has presented the first performances and recordings of several works, including Paul Evernden’s Three Songs for Sajmište and Liz Johnson’s Hildegard Reflections. Under the auspices of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, they also gave the first UK performances of Juste Janulyte’s Endings at Birmingham ArtsFest and on the BCMG Series. Other performances have been given at venues such as Plymouth Chamber Music Trust, the Birmingham ‘Frontiers’ series, and on the Music Chamber series at St. Peters, Notting Hill.

The ensemble takes its name from the title of one of their signature works, Robert Myers’ Flotilla from the Villa, for three saxophones and two pianos. ‘Flotilla’ captures perfectly the idea with which the four players began: a small group of musicians, each with their own distinct identity and unique talents, setting sail together into uncharted musical waters. 

photo: Patricia Crummay