ARNO BORNKAMP

Arno Bornkamp

Arno Bornkamp introduced the younger generation to the beauty of classical and contemporary saxophone playing. A teacher and soloist, he is also a co-founder of the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet. Bornkamp has a pronounced lyrical gift that comes to the forefront in his performances. Often, he also plays on less common ...
Full biography

Instruments

saxofoon

Mentioned in the biography of

2002   Ties Mellema
2008   Berlage Saxophone Quartet
2009   Carlos Micháns

Biography Arno Bornkamp

Arno Bornkamp introduced the younger generation to the beauty of classical and contemporary saxophone playing. A teacher and soloist, he is also a co-founder of the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet. Bornkamp has a pronounced lyrical gift that comes to the forefront in his performances. Often, he also plays on less common types of saxophones, many of them from his own collection.

Played in

Aurelia Saxofoon Kwartet   tenorsaxofoon
Clazz Ensemble   sopraansaxofoon, tenorsaxofoon

1959

Arno bornkamp is born in Amsterdam and studies the saxophone with Ed Bogaard at that city's Sweelinck Conservatory.

1982

He makes his debut as a soloist in Rome playing the 'Concertino da Camera' by Jacques Ibert. He co-founds – with his fellow students Johan van der Linden, André Arends and Willem van Merwijk – the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, a professional ensemble in which he still plays the tenor saxophone.

1983

Bornkamp briefly tours with the National Youth Orchestra as the alto saxophone soloist in Claude Debussy's 'Rhapsody'. He begins a duo with the pianist Ivo Janssen. In addition to contemporary works, they perform 19th-century music on historical instruments – saxophones made by Adolphe Sax and Erard pianos.

1986

Bornkamp graduates from the Sweelinck Conservatory with the highest honours. He receives a grant from the Dutch government to study with Daniel Deffayet in Paris. Bornkamp begins teaching the saxophone at the Twents Conservatorium. He is awarded the Silver Friends Garland of the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

1988

He begins studying for The Netherlands Music Prize, a scholarship programme in which exceptional Dutch musicians continue their studies with distinguished international teachers after graduating from the conservatory, culminating in a public examination performance. Bornkamp focusses on the contemporary saxophone repertoire and studies in Bordeaux with Jean-Marie Londeix and in Osaka with Ryo Noda. He visits the composers Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

1991

Bornkamp is awarded The Netherlands Music Prize, the nation's highest honour in clasical music.

1993 - 1994

At the IJsbreker Music Centre in Amsterdam, he performs the premiere of 'Vir', a piece for tenor saxophone that is one of the French composer Christian Lauba's 'Neuf Etudes pour Saxophone'. The following year, he premieres 'Hard too Hard' for tenor saxophone – Lauba's tenth saxophone etude – at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

1995

Bornkamp becomes a saxophone teacher at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam – among his students are Raaf Hekkema, Ties Mellema, and other members of the Amstel Quartet, as well as Eva van Grinsven. In the summer he teaches at the first Université Européenne d'Eté pour Saxophone in Gap, since then an annual event.

1996 - 1998

Bornkamp performs with Ivo Janssen for more than 15,000 people at the Prinsengracht Concert in Amsterdam. In September, he and Janssen celebrate their 15th anniversary as a duo. They perform music by Otto Ketting, Christian Lauba, Maarten van Norden, Peter van Onna and others in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw's Recital Hall.

1999

Bornkamp plays the premieres of Jacob ter Veldhuis' 'Grab it!', for tenor saxophone and ghetto blaster at the Vredenburg concert hall in Utrecht. The work has since had enormous international success and versions now exist for electric guitar, bass clarinet and saxophone ensemble.

2001

The Ottavo label begins its noteworthy project 'The Classical Saxophone from an Historical Perspective'. On the three CDs, Bornkamp plays historical instruments in a survey of the three important periods of the saxophone's history: the beginning, around 1850, with music written for Adolphe Sax ('Adolphe Sax Revisited'); the start of the 20th century, with impressionistic works ('Boston-Paris:The Elisa Hall Collection'); and the 1920s and '30s in Berlin ('Metropolis Berlin').

2002

Bornkamp premieres the 'Tallahatchie Concerto',a work dedicated to him by the composer Jacob ter Veldhuis. On October 20, he celebrates his 20th anniversary as a soloist at the Frits Philips Music Centre in Eindhoven.

2003

Bornkamp is the first modern saxophonist to perform the recently rediscovered original version of 'Fantasia' by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The performance is in Vienna with the Wiener Concert Verein accompanying.

2005

He is one of the three main instructors at the International Masterclass of Classical Saxophone in Laubach, which is held each summer.

2009

In March, he performs the premiere of a concerto written for him by Joey Roukens, and in September, the 'Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra' by Carlos Micháns.

Photos Arno Bornkamp

Audio/Video Arno Bornkamp