The Intimacy of Chamber Music, the Power of a Small Orchestra.

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      A one-of-a-kind sextet, Saxback is a vibrant blend of wind instruments, (almost) all born from the inventive genius of Adolphe Sax—saxophones, saxhorn, and clarinets. This atypical ensemble of woodwinds and brass performs both transcriptions of works by Bach, Prokofiev, Debussy, and Bernstein and original compositions created specifically for them by composers such as Tatiana Probst, Nathanaël Gouin, Eric Goubert, and Matthieu Stefanelli.

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      Graduates of the Paris, Lyon, and Amsterdam Conservatoires, the six musicians of Saxback share a deep artistic connection and a passion for performance that make their concerts an exhilarating display of musicality, energy, and emotion.

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      Founded in 2016, Saxback won second prize at the M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition in the United States in 2018. The ensemble performs at numerous festivals across France—including La Folle Journée de Nantes, the Festival International de Musique de Besançon, and the Flâneries de Reims—as well as in places where classical music is rarely heard, notably through its collaboration with Les Concerts de Poche. Internationally, Saxback has toured Asia, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Turkey, performing at the Istanbul International Chamber Music Festival. The group has a strong relationship with South Korea, where they have toured in 2019 and 2024 and will return for another nationwide tour at the end of 2025.

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      Saxback collaborates with Kiwi Production for its production and distribution.

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      The sextet’s repertoire consists of modular programs, including:

• Retour (Dessner, Bach, Scarlatti, Goubert, Berlioz)

• Tragic Love (Prokofiev, Debussy, Poulenc, Sibelius)

• The ambitious Lumière Noire, currently in preparation for 2025-26, which will be the ensemble’s debut album.

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      Saxback also collaborates with pianist Nathanaël Gouin on a septet program featuring Liszt’s Totentanz and Khoros, a piece composed by Gouin and premiering at La Folle Journée de Nantes 2025.

The ensemble is committed to cultural outreach, offering educational programs and mediation sessions, including A Day with Adolphe Sax, a project designed for conservatory and music school students.