Key West The Newspaper

Solo saxophonist Ashu gives Impromptu Concert performance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Jan. 29

Highly-regarded saxophone master Ashu, aka Ashu Kejariwal, will give his first Key West performance at an Impromptu Concert, at 4 p.m. Jan. 29 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 401 Duval St.

He’ll be accompanied by pianist Winston Choi.

Ashu has been demonstrating to his audiences for some time that the saxophone can excel in classical concert music.

“It’s really an incredible instrument,” Ashu has said. “It can play with such emotional intensity, sing like a voice, and effortlessly project in the largest of halls. It’s capable of a lot of really beautiful things.”

In international competitions where musicians compete using different instruments, Ashu often is the winner. Last summer, for instance, he was selected as the winner of the prestigious Audience Award at the renowned International Musical Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, competing against the First-Prize winners of the world’s foremost violin, piano and voice competitions.

Ashu was born and raised in California and began playing the saxophone at the age of 10. He moved to The Woodlands, Texas,with his family, when he was 12. After he began entering music competitions, a wide range of opportunities opened. When he was 16, Ashu made his recital debut, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and his concerto debut, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

Ashu graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. He is now based in Chicago. Since then, solo performances have taken him throughout the world.

Ashu’s concert appearances last year included major halls in Russia, South Africa, Great Britain, Finland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Canada, and the USA, with venues that include Carnegie Hall, Zurich’s Tonhalle, and Singapore’s Esplanade.

Ashu’s concert repertoire ranges from original soprano and alto saxophone works by Ibert, Glazunov, and Debussy, to his own arrangements of Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, and Morricone.
Pianist Winston Choi is the head of the Piano Program at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts. His professional career was launched when he was named the Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition and winner of France’s 2002 Concours International de Piano 20e siècle d’Orléans.

Choi’s solo, collaborative, chamber and concerto appearances have taken him across four continents.

He recently appeared in recital at the National Arts Centre of Canada, the Carnegie-Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Kravis Center, the Library of Congress, and Merkin Recital Hall.

At the Jan. 29 Impromptu Concert appearance, Ashu and Choi will perform the “Concertino da Camera,” by Jacques Ibert; the “Andante from Cello Sonata, Op.19,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, (arranged by Ashu;) the “Sonata, Op.19 for Alto Saxophone and Piano,” by Paul Creston; Three Tangos for Soprano Saxophone and Piano, by Astor Piazzolla (arranged by Ashu;) an “Italian Film Suite,” by Ennio Morricone (arranged by Ashu;) and “Fantaisie sur un Thème Original for Alto Saxophone and Piano, by Jules Demersseman.

The concert’s Maestros are Nancy Amling and Judith and Stanley Zabar.

Tickets for the concert cost $20, and are available at www.keystix.com, or at the door on the afternoon of the event. Cash, checks, or credit/debit cards will be accepted as payment. Students will be admitted free. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, call 305-296-1520, or visit www.keywestimpromptu.org