Paganini for Saxophone

Raaf Hekkema, a Dutch saxophone virtuoso, has arranged the famous 24 Capricci Op. 1 by Niccolò Paganini for solo saxophone - for either soprano or alto saxophone depending on the register. For the CD recording of the arrangements on MDG, Hekkema received the Echo Klassik Award in the category 'Instrumentalist of the Year' in 2007.

Multiple prize winning saxophonist Raaf Hekkema gives about a hundred concerts a year worldwide, performing mainly his own arrangements, besides the classical and contemporary saxophone repertoire. For his solo CD Paganini Caprices for Saxophone he was awarded the title 'Instrumentalist of the year 2007' by the German Echo Klassik. Apart from this he has made arrangements of other Paganini pieces as well as music by other composers for his instrument. As a soloist he has performed with numerous orchestras in the Netherlands and abroad, as well as given masterclasses in a number of countries. Raaf Hekkema is a founding member of the prize winning Calefax Reed Quintet (since 1985), for which he has made hundreds of arrangements, many of which were recorded on CD. Acclaimed are his settings of Bach's Art of Fuge and the Goldberg Variations, Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin, keyboard music by Debussy and Rameau, but also Duke Ellington's jazz-suite The River and the Studies for Player Piano by the American composer Conlon Nancarrow. Calefax plays in the major concert halls and festivals in Europe, Asia and the US, appeared on international radio and television and has produced ten CD's.