Calefax

Oliver Boekhoorn, oboe
Bart de Kater, clarinet
Raaf Hekkema, alto saxophone
Jelte Althuis, bass clarinet
Alban Wesly, bassoon

A sound like no other! Calefax is a pioneering wind group from Amsterdam, famed throughout Europe.  These free-spirited virtuosos have not only invented their own ensemble but transcribe their own wide-ranging repertoire, commission new works, and always thrill their audiences.

A classical ensemble with a pop mentality, Calefax has a uniquely varied repertoire ranging from the year 1100 to the present day, and is open to the influences of world music, jazz and improvisation as a result of countless international tours and collaborations with all kinds of artists from various disciplines, including pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Liza Ferschtman as well as many other musicians, vocalists, choreographers and visual artists.

Calefax has released 19 CDs under the renowned German MDG label and its own RIOJA Records label. All the recordings have earned critical acclaim from the international press. The mezzo-soprano Cora Burggraaf can be heard on the CD entitled The Roaring Twenties,while the On the Spot CD features the trumpeter Eric Vloeimans, who transports Calefax into the world of jazz and improvisation. Their latest CD, entitled Romantic Kaleidoscope, was released in October 2015, packaged within the anniversary book Calefax en de Caleidoscoop, written by the radio presenter Lex Bohlmeijer and published by Cossee.

Calefax has won many major music prizes, including the 1997 Philip Morris Arts Prize, the 2001 Kersjes van de Groenekan Prize and the 2005 VSCD Classical Music Award. In 2012 Calefax received the German Junge Ohren Prize for the family musical show The Music Factory, a co-production with the Dutch theatre company Oorkaan.

The group has given concerts in virtually every country in Europe, as well as touring Russia, China, India, Turkey, Japan, South Africa, Brazil and the United States, performing at major venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Oriental Arts Centre (Shanghai) and Lincoln Center. In January 2013 Calefax had the honour of accompanying the former Dutch Queen Beatrix on her final two state visits, to Brunei and Singapore.