Welcome at the sites of the Deutsches Saxophon Ensemble
Critics have called them "an ensemble of international quality" - their sound is "the pure culture of the saxophone:" the Deutsche Saxophon Ensemble in the classical quartet combination of soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones.
Off the beaten path of jazz, entertainment music and any mainstream saxophone tendencies, Nicole Schillings, Monika Leufgen, Michael Ruf and Katharina Stashik bring together a wide range of musical competence.
They completed their artistic education at leading European academies in the renowned classes of Daniel Gauthier, Iwan Roth and Johann van der Linden.
The members of the ensemble are first prize winners of national and international competitions including the CONCOURS DE LA RADIO SUISSE ROMANDE, the TORNEO INTERNAZIONALE DI MUSICA Rome 2002 and the GERMAN NATIONAL COMPETITION "Jugend musiziert" (Youth Making Music), and have been awarded scholarships of the GERMAN MUSIC COUNCIL, the VILLA MUSICA and the YEHUDI-MENUHIN Live Music Now Association.
Alongside their extensive chamber music activity, they have made guest appearances with German orchestras including the BERLIN PHILHARMONIC, the GÜRZENICH ORCHESTER COLOGNE, the WDR, HR and SWR Radio Orchestras as well as the TONHALLEORCHESTER ZÜRICH under renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Erich Leinsdorf, Michael Gielen, Andre Previn, Herbert Blomstedt, Marc Soustrot and Jonathan Nott.
They have appeared on radio and television productions by WDR, HR, BR, SWR, DRS, ARTE, RTL and the former SDR.
The cultivation of the customary standard literature is only one segment of their work in the field of chamber music. True to their name, the Ensemble is also especially committed to contemporary works, particularly those by German composers. In recent years, for example, they have received compositions from none other than the venerable masters Jürg Baur and Harald Genzmer; these great twentieth-century classic composers dedicated compositions for saxophone quartet with baritone and for saxophone quartet with piano, respectively, to the Ensemble.
In addition, as solitary protagonists, they are dedicated to further developing the saxophone - the youngest of all orchestral instruments - with their own quartet adaptations of important traditional masterworks of German music history.
The quintessence is an extraordinary ensemble philosophy with which the Deutsche Saxophon Ensemble has long established itself as one of the leading saxophone quartets in concert life today. This, coupled with appropriate concert programming, well-founded moderations and an agreeable stage presence, continues to fill audiences and critics with enthusiasm, time and again.