
The Toronto Saxophone Collective will be presenting their annual May concert, titled Printemps, on May 16. The concert takes place at the College Street United Church.
Here’s a look at the program, which includes a variety of works both written and arranged for the saxophone, and a world premiere by a Canadian composer.
Toronto Sax Collective: Printemps
The spotlight of the concert will be Ibert’s Concertino, featuring soloist Bingchen He. The performance will be conducted by Toronto-based conductor, educator, and arranger Shawn Bennett.
Jacques Ibert: Concertino da camera
Jacques Ibert wrote his Concertino de camera for alto saxophone and 11 instruments in 1935. The Saxophone Collective will be performing an arrangement for an all-sax ensemble. The piece is written with two contrasting movements, and is characterized by its use of the full range of the saxophone, including its highest pitches. It combines lyrical passages with challenging ones, technical brilliance with expressive power.
At the time it was written, the saxophone was just gaining acceptance as an orchestral instrument, and piece has since become a cornerstone of sax repertoire.
Bingchen He
A native of Beijing, China, Bingchen He is now based in Toronto. He’s been playing the saxophone since the age of eight, specializing in the alto and soprano instruments, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Saxophone Performance from the University of Toronto. He won first prize at the Qingdao Xiao Jin Zhong competition in 2016, and in 2022, won the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble competition. In November 2024, he took home third prize at the OSM (Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) Competition.
The concert also features a world premiere, Aphonia, commissioned by the Toronto Saxophone Collective from composer Elienna Wang.

Elienna Wang: Aphonia (2025) World Premiere
Aphonia refers to the condition of losing or having no voice. While technically, the term may refer to a condition with physical roots, here, it’s more about having words you want to speak, but not being able to voice them.
The work was composed for one voice soloist, one sopranino saxophone, two soprano saxophones, three alto and three tenor saxophones, one baritone, and one bass saxophone.
Toronto-based composer Elienna Wang writes in her notes, “I composed this composition for 12 saxophones for the Toronto Saxophone Collective for their May 2025 concert. My writing process was much inspired by the Toronto Saxophone Collective’s University of Toronto New Music Festival concert in January 2025, and my newly found interest in designing dynamic audio systems for video games.”
Wang has composed concert, video game, and film music. She is currently studying composition at the University of Toronto. Recent work include her art song, Rosé Leaves, recorded and released as part of the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s Songs of Hope album, the January 2025 premiere of her mini-opera, All Things Come Home at Eventide, by the University of Toronto’s Opera department, the February 2025 premiere of her choral work, “海阔天空” with the Kupenta Singers, and the premiere of her percussion duo, Doubt, by the KöNG Duo in April 2025.
Shawn Bennett conducts.
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn(1873), arranged by Blake Smith
University of Toronto graduate Blake Smith created the arrangement, and Yu Wang conducts this work, today often known as the St. Anthony Variations or Variations on the St. Anthony Chorale.
In 1870, Brahms’ friend Carl Ferdinand Pohl, who was the librarian of the Vienna Philharmonic Society, showed the composer a transcription he’d made of a piece that was attributed to Haydn called Divertimento No. 1. The second movement had the title St. Anthony Chorale, and it’s from this piece that Brahms took the theme which he then works into multiple variations.
As it turns out, the piece was probably written by Ignaz Pleyel, although there is no definitive proof. However, in the coda of the finale, Brahms quotes a different passage of Haydn, taken from his Clock Symphony. Yu Wang conducts.
Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of Animals (1922), arranged by Blake Smith
While it’s one of his best known pieces today, Camille Saint-Saëns refused to allow the public performance of his The Carnival of Animals because he felt that its whimsical nature would undermine his reputation as a serious composer. That’s why it wasn’t published until 1922 — a year after his death.
In Blake Smith’s arrangement, the saxophones recreate the technical effects that characterize the piece. Shawn Bennett conducts.
Lili Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps (1918), arranged by Blake Smith
Lili Boulanger, younger sister to renowned teacher Nadia, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her talent was recognized very early, and at five, she was tagging along to Nadia’s composition classes. She won the Prix de Rome in 1913, at age 19, but was already plagued by ill health, which had forced her to withdraw from the competition a year earlier. Tragically, intestinal tuberculosis would take her life at the young age of 24.
She composed her D’un matin de printemps during the last few months of her life, along with a companion piece titled D’un soir triste (“Of a Sad Evening”). Despite her young age, the compositional voice is mature, and explores tone colours and harmonies.
Yu Wang conducts.
Personnel: Musicians
- Sopranino Saxophone: Christopher Jones
- Soprano Saxophone: Nathan Chun; Christopher Jones; Jason Lau; Yunfei Xie
- Alto Saxophone: Jacob Armstrong; Samuel Chen; Bingchen He; Robert Hess; Chantelle Tom-Ying
- Tenor Saxophone: Harrison Argatoff; Kannan Bloor; Peter Gilli; Benjamin Liu; Jack Smith; Dylan Windsor
- Baritone Saxophone: Kun Huang; Min Gu Kang
- Bass Saxophone: Blake Smith
- Vocalist: Sofia Radenko
The concert takes place 7 p.m. at College Street United Church (452 College St.) with a Pay-What-You-Can at the door policy. Info here.
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