The four talented musicians of the saxophone quartet Kebyart not only share a passion for chamber music, but also a desire to breathe fresh air into classical music.
Here, four musical free spirits from Barcelona have come together to open up completely new instrumentation sound pages – and each of their performances promises to be a captivating production. Their name says it all: the Balinese ‘kebyar’ means something like ‘suddenly flare up’ or ‘burst open’ – a wonderful metaphor for the extraordinarily energetic and highly virtuoso music-making of the four Spaniards.
The distinctiveness of the experimental Kebyart lies in its creative and open approach to the repertoire, which has several facets: original literature as well as its own arrangements of a wide variety of styles are constantly expanded with newly commissioned works, such as Jörg Widmann’s 7 Capricci from 2021. They also enrich the sound of the saxophone quartet through their collaborations with outstanding artists such as Nicolas Altstaedt, Xavier Sabata or Dénes Várjon and as soloists with orchestras such as the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra, GIO Symphonia or Barcelona Wind Symphony.
The young musicians of Kebyart are currently a hot topic of conversation not only in their Spanish homeland but are now also making themselves heard and talked about throughout Europe. As part of the ECHO Rising Stars in the 2021/22 season Kebyart performed for the first time at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Musikverein in Vienna, Philharmonie in Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and many other European halls. The 2022/23 season saw important debuts at Wigmore Hall in London, Tonhalle in Zürich, Stadtcasino Basel, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Lockenhaus Festival and Heidelberger Frühling.
Since their beginnings in 2014, Kebyart’s members have striven for excellence. They have studied at ESMUC (Barcelona) and Musik-Akademie (Basel). Their commitment to the message of music has led them to receive instruction from some of the most renowned musicians and chamber ensembles such as Cuarteto Casals, Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartett), Cuarteto Quiroga, Sergio Azzolini, Claudio Martínez-Mehner, Anton Kernjak, Kennedy Moretti and Nacho Gascón.
They have been awarded several important chamber music prizes for their interpretations: the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition, the International Franz Cibulka Competition, El Primer Palau – organized by the Palau de la Música Catalan – and the prestigious BBVA Chamber Music Prize. Since 2018 they have also been part of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA).
As ambassador of the brands, Kebyart performs on Henri Selmer saxophones and Vandoren accessories.
