I’m very happy to announce the recipients of my Markham Awards for 2022.

This is the tenth year of my Sarah Markham Saxophone Award which I started in 2013 to recognise the achievements of my outstanding graduating students. As I come to the end of academic year I enjoy reflecting on all that my students have achieved and what their future plans are.

When my dad died in 2018 I wanted to do something to honour him and so I established the Ralph Markham Achievement Award. My father was a teacher and he always encouraged his students, my brother, and me, to find our own way in life and to carve a path that was right for us. This award reflects that, and recognises students who have achieved great personal success and development in their saxophone playing.

Students from Leeds Conservatoire, the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and the universities of Durham, Huddersfield, Sheffield, and York have all received awards over the last ten years, and I am delighted to have been able to celebrate the success of my students from all those institutions.

The 2022 recipient of the Sarah Markham Saxophone Award is Rosemary Ball. Rosemary has studied saxophone with me at the Royal College of Music Junior Department since 2018. When she first arrived at the Junior Department, Rosemary was a first study composer and self taught saxophonist, having only played the saxophone for a couple of years (Rosemary is also an accomplished trumpet player). Rosemary and I embarked on a journey, with Rosemary re-auditioning a year later to become a first study saxophonist. It was clear Rosemary had a natural affinity with the saxophone, and it has been a joy to guide her through the first part of her learning these past four years. Rosemary’s many recent successes include: reaching the final of the RCMJD Peter Morrison Concerto competition (playing Dubois Saxophone Concerto), winner of the RCMJD Gordon Turner competition (playing Debussy Syrinx and Yoshimatsu Fuzzy Bird Sonata), and winning the top category competition at the International Greek Saxophone Festival (playing Boutry Divertimento). Rosemary continues her studies with a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in September 2022.

The 2022 recipient of the Ralph Markham Achievement Award is Lucy Havelock. Lucy has studied with me at the University of York since 2019, and her love of saxophone playing has seen her work on many core works in the classical saxophone repertoire, as well as contemporary music. From the start of her degree in 2019 Lucy would volunteer to perform whenever an opportunity arose; this inspired her love of contemporary music and free improvisation. When Covid forced Lucy to work alone she bought herself a loop pedal and began experimenting with sounds and audio layering. Lucy made many recordings and ensured that she was able to continue performing, albeit in a different way. She commissioned and premiered several new works for solo saxophone and also for saxophone and loop pedal. Lucy was the president of Chimera, the University of York’s contemporary music group. In continuing to develop both her playing and her love of music administration she is looking forward to starting a postgraduate course in Europe.

Rosemary and Lucy share a love of music and performance. Both of them are open to the exploration of all genres of music, and they work hard to create opportunities to perform and connect with other musicians. I am very proud of all that they have achieved.

Rosemary and Lucy receive a cash award from me, reeds of their choice from Vandoren, a Venova (a ‘casual’ wind instrument with the range of a recorder using a saxophone mouthpiece) from Yamaha, and a work of their choice from the Saxtet Publications catalogue. I am grateful to Vandoren, Yamaha, and Saxtet Publications for their support of my awards.

Tags: Greek Saxophone Association,Royal College of Music Junior Department,Saxtet Publications,University of York,Vandoren,Yamaha

It’s the time of year when I announce the recipients of my Markham awards.

I established the Sarah Markham Saxophone Award in 2013 to recognise the achievements of my outstanding graduating students; five years later I established the Ralph Markham Achievement Award in my late father’s name to recognise students who had achieved great personal success and development in their saxophone playing.

Students from Leeds Conservatoire, the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and the universities of Durham, Huddersfield and Sheffield have all received awards over the last eight years, and I am delighted to have been able to celebrate the success of my students from all those institutions.

The Sarah Markham Saxophone Award 2021 for outstanding graduating student is awarded to Matthew Bartlett. Matt has just completed his degree at Durham University. For the first eighteen months of his degree Matt would regularly travel to have lessons with me, the remaining time has been studying remotely with a combination of zoom lessons and shared recordings. Because of the restrictions I was not able to attend Matt’s final recital, but I was able to watch him in his final sound check. His final recital performance of Debussy’s Syrinx, Bonneau’s Pièce Concertante Dans L'Esprit Jazz, Fuzzy Bird Sonata by Yoshimatsu, Buku by Jacob TV and ending with a small jazz set with his friends forming a rhythm section showcased the versatility of Matt’s playing and the scope of his musical interests. Matt intends to take some time to continue to develop his playing and will spend some time in Canada over the next year.

The Ralph Markham Achievement Award 2021 for personal achievement and development is awarded to Will Gibbon. Will has just completed his studies at Leeds Conservatoire. Will spent four years at Leeds Conservatoire, beginning with a Foundation Year before embarking on the three year degree course where Will majored in classical saxophone with a minor in jazz. As well as studying with me as his classical saxophone teacher and playing in classical ensembles from duo to quartet, Will also studied jazz saxophone and played in numerous jazz and pop ensembles. Will is a talented drummer and many times would arrive to his saxophone lesson with his sticks because he had just come from a drumming session. For his final recitals Will performed in a jazz ensemble to fulfil his minor in jazz requirement; in his classical recital Will performed Ganba by Anne Boyd on baritone saxophone, Concerto for Stan Getz by Richard Rodney Bennett on tenor saxophone and Buku by Jacob TV on alto saxophone. Will has established himself in the Leeds music scene and is busy with session work on both saxophone and drums with an increasing number of live gigs now that restrictions are easing.

Both Matt and Will studied with me from the age of 16, Matt as a student at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and Will privately. It has been a joy to watch them both develop as people and musicians, and it is a source of great pride that both these musicians have recognised that good saxophone playing encompasses all genres of music.

Matt and Will receive a cash award from me, reeds of their choice from Vandoren, a Pianica (a three octave keyboard played like a wind instrument) from Yamaha, and a work of their choice from the Saxtet Publications catalogue. I am grateful to Vandoren, Yamaha, and Saxtet Publications for their support of my awards.

Tags: Durham University,Leeds Conservatoire,Saxtet Publications,Vandoren,Yamaha

The academic year is coming to a close and it’s time for me to announce the recipients of my Markham Awards for 2020.

In 2013 I decided to recognise the achievements of my outstanding graduating students and created the annual Sarah Markham Saxophone Award. Later, in 2018, I established the Ralph Markham Achievement Award in my late father’s name to recognise students who had achieved great personal success and development in their saxophone playing.

Students from Leeds College of Music, the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and the universities of Durham, Huddersfield and Sheffield have all received awards, and I am delighted to have been able to celebrate the success of my students from all those institutions.

This year both of my award winners hail from the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

The Sarah Markham Saxophone Award for outstanding graduating student is awarded to Jasmine Brown. Jasmine has studied with me for six years. I’m very proud of Jasmine; as well as being a talented student she is also my goddaughter. I am grateful to Jasmine’s parents, Katie and Steve, for encouraging Jasmine to attend the RCM Junior Department to enable her to study with me. Jasmine has a scholarship to begin her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in September.

The Ralph Markham Achievement Award for personal achievement and development is awarded to Rosemary Ball. Rosemary has been attending the RCM Junior Department for nearly two years. She arrived as a first-study composer, second-study trumpeter, and third-study saxophonist, having had only a handful of lessons prior to starting studying with me.

Rosemary has shown remarkable achievements in the last year. Having passed her grade 7 with distinction at the end of 2019, Rosemary decided against working towards grade 8, preferring to delve into more modern music and aspects of technique. Rosemary is now performing works such as Yoshimatsu’s Fuzzy Bird and Lauba’s Balafon, repertoire that would challenge many final year degree students. I’m happy to report that Rosemary is now a first-study saxophonist at the Junior Department and I am looking forward to working with her for another two years.

Both Jasmine and Rosemary receive a cash award from me, reeds of their choice from Vandoren, a voucher for the Yamaha London Store, and a work of their choice from the Saxtet Publications catalogue. I am grateful to Vandoren, Yamaha, and Saxtet for their support of my awards.

Tags: Royal College of Music Junior Department,Saxtet Publications,Vandoren,Yamaha

I’ve spent some time reflecting on my wonderful visit to Lárisa for the Sixth Greek Saxophone Festival. What an amazing and inspirational experience.

Tags: Europe,Greek Saxophone Association,Stathis Mavrommatis,Yamaha

We’ve just arrived in Larissa ready for the annual saxophone festival that begins tomorrow in the conservatory of music. We arrived in Greece a couple of days ago and have spent an amazing couple of days discovering Athens.

The new Acropolis museum is fantastic, designed to mimic the proportions of the Parthenon. The manager of the hotel we stayed at recommended we visit the museum first and then walk around the site which was a great idea. We were able to imagine what it would have looked like when it was built two and a half thousand years ago. Wandering around Athens we saw loads of street sellers, artists, and buskers playing all kinds of music including a jazz guitarist who played with great simplicity and amazing feel. We joined in a group photo after being beckoned by some incredibly happy people from Taiwan, only to slowly realise we might have accidentally joined some kind of Taiwanese sect! After promising to meet them the next day we hurriedly left...

Our host for the festival, Stathis Mavrommatis, was kind enough to drive us north from Athens to Larissa. The festival starts tomorrow and I’ll be adjudicating one of the saxophone competitions and also meeting my pianist and will have a chance to rehearse. On Sunday I’ll be giving a master class, and performing in a concert along with the other international guests, Nino Dimov and Mimmo Malandra. We will then form the jury of the highest level competition.

This annual festival sees the whole saxophone community from Greece getting together. I’m excited to see and hear what’s going on in this welcoming country.

Tags: Europe,masterclass,Stathis Mavrommatis,Yamaha

Stathis Mavrommatis, the president of the Greek Saxophone Association, has invited me to be an honoured guest of the 6th Greek Saxophone Convention. I'll be giving a performance, masterclass and on the jury of the saxophone competition. The details are here, it is all in Greek! Thank you Yamaha for your sponsorship.

Tags: Europe,masterclass,Yamaha