Julia Nolan saxophone

Julia Nolan maintains an active performing schedule committed to promoting new works for saxophone.  She has commissioned works by many Canadian composers including Stephen Chatman, Keith Hamel, Robert Pritchard, Nicolas Scherzinger, Jacquie Leggatt, Hope Lee, Fred Stride, Neal Currie, Alain Mayrand, Alan Matheson, Colin MacDonald, and Jeffrey Ryan.

In July 2011, Julia Nolan was a guest artist at the Hong Kong International Saxophone Symposium. In November 2010, Nolan was an international judge at the 5th Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition, in Dinant, Belgium.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) commissioned Fred Stride to write a concerto for Julia Nolan in 1991. Mario Bernardi conducted the national broadcast premiere. In 2005, Julia Nolan premiered a second CBC-commissioned concerto; this one by Ian McDougall, with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra conducted by Alain Trudel.  Nolan performed MacDougall’s concerto again in 2006 with the Kamloops Symphony, conducted by Bruce Dunn.

In 2009, Julia Nolan's concerto appearances included multiple performances of Fred Stride's Concerto and the premiere of Charles Stolte's Classical Concerto with the Edmonton Chamber Players.

Nolan premiered commissioned works by British Columbia composers Stephen Chatman and Robert Pritchard at the 2006 World Saxophone Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  She was a featured soloist with orchestra at the 2003 World Saxophone Congress in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In July 2012, she travels to St. Andrews, Scotland to premiere a commissioned work by Colin MacDonald and perform Israeli composer Jan Freidlin’s Brociliande Concerto in addition to giving a public lecture about her recently completed PhD dissertation.

Of her compact disk recording of Paule Maurice's Tableaux de Provence as soloist with the CBC orchestra (CBC SM5135) under the direction of Mario Bernardi, Bob Kerr, host of CBC’s Off the Record praised Julia Nolan as  “a brilliant and mellifluous sounding soloist.” Arthur Kaptainis (Montreal Gazette) commented, “Julia Nolan makes a fine soloist, creating a silky sound in the evocation of the tombs of Arles and articulating gaily in the…Flight of the Bumblebee finale.”

Interdisciplinary works are a new area of interest. Works commissioned by Nolan for saxophone in this genre include: Keith Hamel’s WindoW for saxophone and interactive computer; Robert Pritchard’s Strength for saxophone and video; and Dorothy Chang’s Beyond and through… for saxophone and dancer, created especially for Julia Nolan and Kathryn Ricketts, collaborators in improvised music and dance/movement for the past five years.

In February 2012, Julia Nolan completed the PhD in Curriculum and Pedagogy (Music Education) from UBC’s Faculty of Education. Her dissertation investigates the lives and careers of eminent saxophonists, Frederick Hemke, Eugene Rousseau, and Donald Sinta.

 

---

View Upcoming Performances

---

Top of Page