Want to perform Tomasi’s concerto at the Musikverein?
Apply now for the international solo competition!
From 7 to 10 April 2027, the international Vienna Saxfestival will celebrate its premiere at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, bringing together renowned saxophonists, educators, students and young talents from around the world.
The saxophone has a long and distinguished tradition at the mdw. Building on decades-long work of the mdw saxophone team, initiated in 1985 by o.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Oto Vrhovnik, the instrument has become firmly established in orchestras, ensembles, and a wide range of cultural institutions.
With the Vienna Saxfestival, the mdw highlights and continues the successful international collaborations developed over recent years. The festival offers a vibrant platform for artistic exchange, musical inspiration, and new encounters.
Date
7–10 April 2027
Masterclasses
8–10 April 2027, mdw-Campus
Concert venues
Future Art Lab at the mdw, Musikverein Vienna, Ehrbar Saal, Porgy & Bess
Organiser
mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Location and opening hours to follow
Wednesday
7.00 pm
Opening with the SIGNUM saxophone quartet at the Future Art Lab
Thursday
07:30 pm
Concert featuring festival participants
Friday
03:30 pm
Tonkünstler Orchestra at the Musikverein
07:30 pm
Festival Gala Concert in the Ehrbar Hall
Saturday
03:00 pm
Concert at the Future Art Lab
08:30 pm
mdw Saxophone Orchestra at Porgy & Bess
Nobuya Sugawa is one of Japan’s most internationally influential classical saxophonists and has played a major role in expanding the instrument’s repertoire and artistic standing over a career spanning more than four decades. Since his debut, he has commissioned and championed works by major composers including Chick Corea, Fazıl Say, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akira Nishimura, Toshiyuki Honda, Takashi Yoshimatsu and Jun Nagao. Many of these works have subsequently been published and entered the international saxophone repertoire.
Sugawa has appeared with prominent orchestras and wind ensembles in Japan and abroad, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Musique de la Garde Républicaine, and has worked with distinguished conductors including Charles Dutoit and Alan Gilbert. His international activities have taken him to more than 30 countries for concerts and masterclasses, with recital appearances at major venues including Vienna’s Musikverein.
A graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts, Sugawa has received top honours at the Japan Music Competition and the Japan Wind and Percussion Competition. He served as concertmaster of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra from 1989 to 2010 and as principal conductor of the Yamaha Symphonic Band from 2007 to 2020. He is soprano saxophonist of the Trouvère Quartet and currently holds academic positions as Invited Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts and Visiting Professor at Kyoto City University of Arts. With around 30 recordings and a sustained commitment to commissioning, performance and education, Sugawa’s contribution to the development of the modern classical saxophone is exceptional.
French saxophonist Nicolas Arsenijevic is a soloist and pedagogue whose work combines the classical tradition with contemporary creation and the musical cultures of the Balkans. Born in 1988 and trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, he has been a prizewinner at numerous international competitions, including the Adolphe Sax Competition in Dinant, the Andorra Sax Fest competition and the Josip Nochta Competition in Zagreb.
Arsenijevic is regularly invited internationally for recitals and masterclasses and has collaborated with leading French institutions and ensembles, including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Ensemble intercontemporain. His artistic profile is marked by a particularly exploratory approach to repertoire: his discography and concert projects range from contemporary music and Romantic repertoire with piano or string quartet to Balkan traditional music with the ensemble Kosmopolitevitch.
A committed advocate for new music, he works closely with composers including Christian Lauba, Benjamin Attahir, Maël Bailly, Florent Caron Darras and others, both as a soloist and within specialist contemporary-music ensembles such as Court-Circuit, Alternance and TM+. Through this combination of performance, creation and pedagogy, Arsenijevic represents a versatile strand of the contemporary French saxophone tradition.
French-Swiss saxophonist Valentine Michaud has emerged as one of the leading international voices of her generation, combining instrumental virtuosity with a strong commitment to contemporary creation and interdisciplinary performance. In 2020 she became the first wind player to receive the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. In 2022 she made history as the first saxophone soloist to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic, appearing at the Lucerne Festival under Esa-Pekka Salonen in the orchestral version of Anders Hillborg’s Peacock Tales.
Michaud has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, MDR-Sinfonieorchester and other major international orchestras, and has performed at venues including the KKL Luzern, Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zürich and Victoria Hall in Geneva. During the 2024/25 season she served as soloist in residence with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, appearing in more than 25 concerts.
Her artistic work extends beyond conventional recital formats. Together with visual artist Emmanuel Michaud she co-founded the SIBJA collective, exploring relationships between music, visual art and performance. She also performs with percussionist Gabriel Michaud; their album Oiseaux de Paradis was released by Mirare in 2024. Through commissions, collaborations and adventurous programming, Michaud continues to expand the artistic language and public profile of the classical saxophone.
The SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet has established itself as one of the most distinctive ensembles on the international classical saxophone scene. Its current line-up brings together Michal Knot (soprano saxophone), Jacopo Taddei (alto saxophone), Alan Lužar (tenor saxophone) and Edoardo Zotti (baritone saxophone). Rooted in the ideals of classical chamber music yet driven by an unusually broad musical curiosity, SIGNUM moves fluently between original saxophone repertoire, orchestral transcriptions, Baroque music and rock-inspired projects.
Following successes at international competitions, the ensemble made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 and was selected as a “Rising Star” by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) for the 2014/15 season. Since then, SIGNUM has appeared on major European stages and developed projects distinguished by virtuosity, theatrical energy and a highly flexible ensemble sound. Recent seasons have included performances at the Wiener Konzerthaus and a debut at Munich’s Prinzregententheater, as well as the collaborative project ANIMA with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova.
The quartet’s artistic identity is defined by a desire to rethink the traditional concert experience without compromising the precision and depth of classical chamber music. Their programs frequently cross stylistic boundaries and reveal the saxophone quartet as an ensemble capable of orchestral colour, intimacy, rhythmic force and exceptional expressive range.
