Harborough Sax Orchestra Marks International Make Music Day

To mark International Make Music Day, Harborough’s Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra has teamed up with Scotland’s Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra for a cross-border performance.

With social distancing still in place and 480 physical miles between them, they have used the power of technology to perform an arrangement of the rousing march ‘Entry of the Gladiators,’ which has been released on You Tube.

17 saxophonists – 10 from Phoenix and seven from Aberdeenshire – recorded their own performances at home, before they were spliced together with an accompanying video, featuring the orchestra members playing together online over Zoom.

Jane Smith, from the Phoenix Saxophone Orchestra, who plays soprano sax on the piece, said: “We’ve had so much fun working on this project with our new friends in Aberdeenshire.

“We wanted to produce an uplifting piece that really captured the essence of Make Music Day, which is to celebrate and foster connections in music making. I would say we have certainly achieved that, and we hope this exhilarating piece of music will make you smile!”

The collaboration has been released on YouTube.