World Saxophone Congress

The World Saxophone Congress is a festival gathering approximately 1000 saxophonists and other musicians from all over the world. It is held every three years at a different congress centre in a different country and focuses primarily (although not exclusively) on the performance of classical saxophone music.

The Congress presents an opportunity to meet saxophonists from many countries and to listen to various concerts and performances of saxophone soloists, chamber ensembles, big bands and symphony orchestras that run simultaneously throughout the day in different halls of the congress centre. Each of the five days is concluded by an evening concert of the orchestra and outstanding international soloists. It is also convened with the purpose of presenting the advancements of music production and distribution as well as innovations in instrument-making and equipment.

The seventeenth and most recent World Saxophone Congress, known as SaxOpen, was held between July 9 and 14, 2015 in Strasbourg France. The eighteenth World Saxophone Congress is slated to be held in 2018 in Zagreb, Croatia.

The World Saxophone Congress was conceived by Paul Brodie (1934 - 2007) and co-founded in 1969 with Eugene Rousseau (b. 1932), holding their first Congress in Chicago. Eugene Rousseau writes:

Paul Brodie himself recalls:

In 1981, a 7-member International Saxophone Committee (in French, Comite International du Saxophone, CIS). was set up to help organise the Congress.

Congress performers/participants have included Frederick Hemke, Eugene Rousseau, Donald Sinta, Patrick Meighan, Bruce Faulconer, One O'Clock Lab Band, Lee Patrick, Ronald Caravan, Paul Brodie, Lin Chien-Kwan, Roger Greenberg, Debra Richtmeyer, Kyle Horch, the Scottish Saxophone Ensemble, the National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain, and Brian Brown

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