The SIBJA Saxophone Quartet was founded in Zurich in 2019 when four saxophonists from all over the world decided to form an ensemble based on a budding friendship and a keen taste for experimentation. The young musicians are equally at ease with transcriptions, contemporary works and improvised shows, and have already had the opportunity to perform on prestigious stages such as the Tonhalle Maag Zürich, KKL Luzern, Victoria Hall of Geneva and Casino Kultur Bern, where they received a warm welcome from the audience and critics.
SIBJA SAXOPHONE QUARTET
Valentine Michaud – soprano saxophone
Faustyna Szudra – Alto saxophone
Jean-Valdo Galland – Tenor saxophone
Joan Jordi Oliver – Baritone saxophone
Faustyna Szudra – alto saxophone
Born in 1995, Faustyna Szudra is one of the most prominent saxophonist in her generation. In 2019 she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree and currently she is doing her Master’s degree in Music Pedagogy under the guidance of prof. Lars Mlekusch at Zurich University of the Arts. Faustyna Szudra has won prizes at several competitions, including her first-prize at the competition of the Department of Art Culture in Warsaw and first-prize at the Competition Interpretation Contemporary Music in Zürich. As a member of various chamber groups she took part in several international festivals such as Vienna International Saxfest, Zurich International Saxfest, Mallorca Saxophone Festival and World Saxophne Congress 2018 in Zagreb. Szudra’s performance was broadcasted in the Swiss Television as one of the winner of the ’44th Prix Walo.
Jean-Valdo Galland – Tenor saxophone
Born in Geneva, Jean-Valdo Galland starts his musical studies in Annecy, in the saxophone class of Fabrizio Mancuzo and Christian Charnay. Later, he graduates from the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne where he studies with Pierre Stephane Meugé, with a master of instrumental pedagogy and a master of music performance degree. He performs as a soloist with diverse chamber music ensembles or in orchestras all across Europa, as well as in Russia, Armenia or South America. As a classical musician, he also explores with passion all kind of music, such as jazz, world music (Indian, Irish, Japanese, Armenian, etc.), musical theater, free improvisation or electronic music. Also active as a composer, he created numerous film or video games soundtracks (www.Zikali.com). Invested with the mission of transmitting Music, he teaches saxophone at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève.
Joan Jordi Oliver – Baritone saxophone
Joan Jordi Oliver (Campos, Mallorca, 1994) starts his Bachelor studies in the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (CSMA, Zaragoza) with Mariano García in 2012, and develops as well a full-year studies in the Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität with Lars Mlekusch through an Erasmus exchange in 2014. In 2016, after finishing his studies with honors, he starts his master studies in Music Performance in the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with Lars Mlekusch.
Joan Jordi has offered concerts in several european countries with different chamber music formations, orchestras and as a solosit. A disposed advocate for the music of our time, he regularly collaborates with emerging and established composers, and has premiered around 20 new pieces in Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium, some of them written for him. He has also participated in academies for new and experimental music, like Impuls International Academy (Graz) or LAbO #5 (Antwerpen), and has performed in festivals like Radical dB (Zaragoza) or Laokoon Festival (Zurich).
Insatisfied with the traditional profile of the saxophonist, he regularly collaborates with artists from many different fields, including dance, painting, visual art or photography. His concerts include normaly his own compositions, electroacustic music, audiovisual media and free improvisation.
GALLERY
