2010 laureate of the Breakout Talent Award attributed by the French Association of Performing Artists (ADAMI), classical saxophonist Alexandre Souillart is a passionate advocate of the original repertoire for his instrument.
Alexandre Souillart has won numerous prizes:
■ Laureate of the prestigious Adolphe Sax competition in 2010 in Dinant, Belgium (sole French musician distinguished that year)
■ Winner in Societa Umaniteria Competition, Milano
■ Fondation Cziffra
■ Saxiana
■ UFAM
■ SACEM prize
■ Winner in 2009 of the 14th edition of the Avant-Scène competition held by the CNSMDP.
Alexandre Souillart has been invited to perform in numerous festivals in Europe, Asia and Latin America, including Musica, the 29th Japan Saxophone Festival, and the Lima Contemporary Music Festival (Peru), as well as festivals in Argentina, Colombia, Taiwan, and Thailand. In Paris, he gave a recital at the Musée d’Orsay Auditorium and played as a soloist at the Cité de la Musique, performing Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, conducted by Graziella Contratto.
Alexandre Souillart studied at the Paris Conservatoire in Claude Delangle’s saxophone class (Master Degree and Soloist Diploma), chamber music with Laszlo Hadady (Master Degree) and free improvisation with Alexandros Markeas and Vincent Lê Quang. Concerts in France and abroad have served to further establish his musical personality.
Deeply engaged in contemporary music, Alexandre Souillart actively collaborates with several composers. His first CD features new works for tenor saxophone with various configurations, including Frédéric Durieux’s Übersicht II for solo tenor saxophone (dedicated to A. Souillart), and Philippe Leroux’s Un Lieu Verdoyant for voice and saxophone, both of which are world premiere recordings.
Highly sought as an orchestral saxophonist, he played Berio’s Sinfonia with the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Jonathan Nott (2011), and has performed with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris as well as the Ensemble Itinéraire.
A dedicated chamber musician, Alexandre Souillart founded a duo with the pianist Matthieu Acar. The duo actively seeks to expand the repertoire for saxophone and piano and has collaborated with several composers to facilitate new works. Atyopsis has performed in France, Italy, Great Britain, Greece, Peru and Colombia, and was invited to the Automn Festival of the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Venice) where it gave its historical overview program “From Berlioz to Debussy”.
Alexandre Souillart is a member of the Osmose Saxophone Quartet, specializing in new music and in saxophone pedagogy. The group has appeared throughout Europe, from the Balkans to Great Britain, and has been invited to perform and present at conferences in Taiwan. The Osmose Saxophone Quartet recently performed Glazounov’s Saxophone Quartet at the Salle Pleyel and gave a premiere of their new pedagogical program “Four for Tango” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Alexandre Souillart teaches at the Clamart Conservatoire-CRD (Paris), and at the Bretagne International Saxophone Academy which he founded in 2012. He has given numerous master classes in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Alexandre Souillart is supported by the Meyer Foundation, the Société Générale bank and the Tarrazzi Funds. In 2010, he was a laureate of the Oriolis-Kriegelstein Foundation.
Alexandre Souillart is a Henri Selmer-Paris and a Vandoren artist.