Monday, October 27, 2003

WILMNGTON, NC – The Ryoanji Duo – featuring UNCW faculty members Frank Bongiorno, saxophonist, and Robert Nathanson, classical guitarist – will perform its new saxophone and guitar concerto Saturday, Nov. 1 with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. The concert begins at 8 p.m. in Kenan Auditorium.

Sea of Stones, A Concert for Saxophone and Guitar was written by former UNCW faculty member David Kechley. The piece has seven movements, but is performed without pause so the music flows from one event to the next, exploring the guitar and saxophone as duo, as two solo instruments, and in combination with the orchestra.

In writing the concerto, Kechley was inspired by his first piece for the duo, In the Dragon’s Garden (winner of the Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award in 1995), as well as his recent orchestral works, Transformations: An Orchestral Triptych (1998) and Flow: Transcending Passages for Cello and Orchestra (2000).

The duo debuted Sea of Stones at the 13th World Saxophone Congress on July 12 in Minneapolis with members of the Minneapolis Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Ten years ago the Ryoanji Duo made its debut at the 10th World Saxophone Congress in Pesaro, Italy, and premiered its first commissioned work, In the Dragon’s Garden by Kechley. Since then, the duo has performed numerous concerts throughout the United States, Canada and Europe; commissioned seven works for saxophone and guitar; transcribed several acclaimed classic works for saxophone and guitar; and released Images, a CD containing music they commissioned between 1992 through 2000 and including works for saxophone and guitar written by several of today’s most prominent young composers (David Kechley, Marilyn Shrude, Daniel Worley, Jing Jing Luo, Ernesto García De León and Michael Rusczynski).

Bongiorno is chairman of the UNCW Music Department, and Nathanson is an associate professor of music.

Tickets for the concert are $18, $16 for seniors and $4 for youth under 17. Group rates are available. Reserved seating can be purchased through the Kenan Auditorium box office weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by calling 910/962-3500 or 800/732-3643. Groups of eight or more may call the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra office at 910/791-9262.