Anders Lundegård

Anders Olof Lundegård is a Swedish classical saxophonist. Lundegård is best known for his cello-like tone and intense performance style.[1]

Anders Lundegård

Anders Lundegård was born in Växjö, Sweden, and made his debut at seventeen as a soloist and broadcast performer during a youth artist festival in Stockholm. He earned his undergraduate degree as a student of Christer Johnsson at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm, whereupon he received both a Fulbright and a Sweden – America Foundation award to continue his studies in the United States. Lundegård completed his Master's, Certificate of Performance and Doctoral degrees at Northwestern University, studying under the renowned saxophonist Frederick Hemke. During this time he received three awards, toured with the Swedish chamber orchestra Musica Vitæ, had several works dedicated to him, and won the Northwestern Solo Concerto Competition, performing the subject of his dissertation: the Lars-Erik Larsson Saxophone Concerto.[2]

Lundegård has taught (most recently at West Chester University) and toured extensively in Scandinavia and America, performing contemporary chamber, Baroque transcriptions and Classical concerti. As a young musician, he claims to have been inspired by an anecdote from the saxophone's early experimental stages in the 1850s. During an informal visit to the Belgian inventor, Adolph Sax’s, sweatshop, the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini proclaimed the sound of the new instrument as "the most tender and pleasing he had ever heard."[3] Lundegård professed goal is to capture this "original sound," and he is particularly known for his solo recitals on alto and soprano sax, which include Bach Cello Suites (played at the original pitch) as well as Lundegård's own compositions.

Performances and recordings

Lundegård's recent performances incorporate transcriptions of classical standard repertoire originally composed for strings and clarinet, as well as newly commissioned works. His performances of Astor Piazolla[4] and Johann Sebastian Bach[5] have been well received, as well as his premieres of new works by various Belgian and American composers.[6] He toured Sweden in 2006 and performed for the U.S. State Department and the French Embassy in 2007, among others.[7]

References
  • This article incorporates text from released under the GFDL license
  1. The Quad
  2. Anders Lundegard, classical saxophonist
  3. Michael Segell, The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone, from Noisy Novelty to King of Cool, (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005), p. 15.
  4. 2005
  5. På semester med Bach i bagaget Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Anders Lundegard, classical saxophonist
  7. His solo performances of Bach can be heard on the CD Absolute Bach (swedishpoet productions, 2003).
  • "Upon entering, Lundegård took his first bow, and proceeded to fill the room with the most beautiful, richest sound ever produced by a saxophone that I have ever heard. . . Indeed, the evening was a spectacular exhibition of talent, showmanship and great music." Doug Funk, The Quad (West Chester University, September, 1999)
  • Background and Emergence of the Swedish Saxophone Concerto, Lars-Erik Larsson, Op.14 (DMA diss., Northwestern University, 1995)
  • "Fabian Faccio, Argentine pianist, and Anders Lundegård, Swedish classical saxophonist, presented a rousing and fiery all-Piazzolla tango performance, blending together seamlessly." The State Magazine (Washington, D.C., June 2005), p. 22.
  • " The [Partita in a minor for flute by J.S. Bach ] work was performed in a stylistically accurate way with correct melodic shape, nuances and phrasing, à la Baroque. Anders managed to create something one calls “hidden counterpoint,” an old trick that involves the soloist handing his instrument in a specific way, manages to get the audience to perceive two separate melodies instead of one....." Ladis Miller, Smålandsposten (August 12, 2005), Sweden
  • "To a sold out house at the Washington Musica Viva studio in Kensington, Maryland, Carl Banner (pianist) and Anders Lundegard (soprano saxophone) presented three engaging premiere compositions. ....Lundegard and Banner’s performance fit hand-in-glove." Karren L. Alenier, poet, librettist and president of The Word Works.
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