Rob Burton, BBC Young Musician 2018 Grand Finalist, performs Paul Creston's Saxophone Alto Concerto Op. 26 with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) in Birmingham Symphony Hall, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Follow me on Instagram!: @robburtonsax or https://www.instagram.com/robburtonsax/ This video is taken from the televised BBC Young Musician competition in 2018. After a year of 3 great BBC Young Musician finalists, Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Jess Gillam (saxophone) and Ben Goldsheider (horn), Rob Burton competes against Maxim Calver and Lauren Zhang. This video is his grand final performance, following his success winning the woodwind category final. Previous winners of the BBC Young Musician title read like a who’s who of some of today’s most well-respected classical musicians, including oboist Nicholas Daniel, cellist Natalie Clein, clarinettists Mark Simpson, Emma Johnson and violinist Nicola Benedetti. Former finalists include pianist Stephen Hough, Stephen Osborne and Barry Douglas, violinist Tasmin Little, pianist, conductor and composer Thomas Adès, flautist Juliette Bausor and trumpeter Alison Balsom, to name just a few.

Saxophone - Rob Burton Piano - Sebastian Tortosa Live performance from Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

Jules Demersseman - "Fantaisie sur un thème original" performed by: Alto Saxophone: Rob Burton Piano: Christine Zerafa Fantaisie sur un Thème Original, written by Jules Demersseman in 1860, was composed in the early days of the saxophone's history, when the instrument was relatively unknown. The high technical facility called for in this work is thus all the more surprising. Demersseman had an outstanding reputation as a flute virtuoso; as a composer, he was known for his flute and saxophone fantasies. Recorded at the Leicester International Music Festival, UK -------------- London-based saxophonist Rob Burton won the Woodwind Category Final of BBC Young Musician 2018 and went on to secure a place in the Grand Final at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, where he performed as concerto soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Highlights since then include performances across the UK and Channel Islands as part of the Leicester, Cheltenham, Harrogate, and Oundle International Festivals amongst many others, as well as being invited further afield as part of the European Soloists Festival in Caracas, Venezuela. He has recently appeared as soloist with ‘Orchestra of the City’, Jersey Symphony, Lambeth Wind, Harrow, and Solihull Symphony Orchestras and in prestigious London venues including St. Johns Smith Square, St. James’ Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Rob was winner of Silk Street Sinfonia’s Young Artists Concerto Competition, the 2019 Hans Schaeuble Award in Switzerland, as well as winner of the 'Sussex Prize for Woodwind' in the Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition Final. In 2021, Rob will make his Wigmore Hall debut. Rob currently studies Classical Saxophone on a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music with Huw Wiggin and privately in Zürich with Lars Mlekusch. He previously studied as Sax.co.uk scholarship holder at the Junior Guildhall School of Music, during which he was Principal Saxophone with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain. Rob is a Vandoren UK artist and is grateful for the support of YCAT through their aftercare scheme for BBC Young Musician finalists.

Robert Planel - Prelude et Saltarelle Alto Saxophone: Rob Burton Piano: Christine Zerafa Recorded at the Leicester International Music Festival, UK. November 2019

KAVINSKY TRIO performing: Alexander Arutiunian - Suite for Violin, Clarinet & Piano (arranged for Violin, Saxophone and Piano by Rob Burton) i. Introduction 0:00 ii. Scherzo 5:35 iii. Dialog 8:12 iv. Final 10:43 Violin - Amalia Young Saxophone - Rob Burton Piano - Milli McFall The Suite for violin, clarinet and piano was commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and composed in 1992. One notes the vivid Armenian character of the music which is always present in Arutiunian's style. The third movement opens with an intermezzo named Dialog for violin and clarinet which ends with a transition into the Finale. This movement contains the elements of Armenian dance rhythms with their capricious pulse and unexpected irregularities in a freely improvised melodic style. Alexander Arutiunian (September 23, 1920 – March 28, 2012) was born in Erevan, Armenia (USSR) and was one of the best known and highly esteemed composers of the former Soviet Union. He studied composition and piano at the Armenian Conservatory and then perfected his skills with H. Litinsky in Moscow (1946-48). He was head of the composition department at Erevan State Conservatory for many years. Arutiunian's works have won many prizes both nationally and internationally and are performed frequently throughout the world. Perhaps best known for the trumpet and violin concertos, his total output includes operas, cantatas, symphonic and chamber works. Inspired by existing pieces for violin-clarinet-piano trio by 20th-century composers Bartók (Contrasts (Bartók)), Stravinsky, Milhaud, Khachaturian, Berg, Krenek, Poulenc and Ives, the Verdehr trio commissioned over 200 new works. They have commissioned violin-clarinet-piano trios by composers inculding: Leslie Bassett, Alan Hovhaness, Karel Husa, Thea Musgrave (Pierrot), Ned Rorem, and Gunther Schuller. Series II, hosted by Peter Schickele, includes trios by Alexander Arutiunian, David Diamond, William Bolcom, Betsy Jolas, Libby Larsen, Philippe Manoury, Gian Carlo Menotti, Peter Sculthorpe, Peter Schickele and Joan Tower. www.robburtonsax.co.uk Instagram: www.instagram.com/robburtonsax Twitter: www.twitter.com/robburtonsax Recorded at Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London

KAVINSKY TRIO performing: Marc Eychenne - Cantilène et Danse Violin - Amalia Young Saxophone - Rob Burton Piano - Milli McFall Recorded at Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London

KAVINSKY TRIO performing: Jean-Luc Defontaine - Couleurs d'un Reve Violin - Amalia Young Saxophone - Rob Burton Piano - Milli McFall www.robburtonsax.co.uk Instagram: www.instagram.com/robburtonsax Twitter: www.twitter.com/robburtonsax Recorded at Angela Burgess Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London

'Gush' (1974) for solo alto saxophone by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen (1952) performed by Rob Burton. Saxophone - Rob Burton www.instagram.com/robburtonsax www.robburtonsax.co.uk Audio/video: Uday Singh ZHdK, Zürch University of the Arts/Zürcher Hochschule der Künste

Saxophonist Rob Burton performs 'Oodles of Noodles' by Jimmy Dorsey for saxophone and Wind Band with Lambeth Wind Orchestra.