“Da pacem, Domine”
Gregorian chant meets saxophone

Hugo Siegmeth, saxophones
Consortium Vocale Oslo
Alexander M. Schweitzer, conductor

The inventor of the saxophone, Adolph Sax, presented his instrument at the Paris World’s Fair in 1855. It was originally intended for military music, but it had its big breakthrough in America in the 20th century, in the pioneering jazz of the New World. In this concert, one of the instruments of modernism sings against – and together with – Gregorian melodies from before the turn of the last millennium.

Hugo Siegmeth works at the intersection of composition and improvisation. Rooted in jazz and deeply engaged with the classical repertoire, he moves fluidly between written score and spontaneous creation. His playing is marked by tonal refinement, lyrical intensity, and a rare sensitivity to ensemble sound. Siegmeth has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center, and Ars Electronica, and has toured throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia, including repeated engagements for the Goethe-Institut. He has performed with Clark Terry, Michael Wollny, and Nguyên Lê, as well as with the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin and the Bruckner Orchester Linz under Markus Poschner, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper under Kirill Petrenko. As a composer and artistic director, he creates programs that transcend stylistic boundaries – music of structural clarity and immediate emotional presence.