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Digital download
- Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Saxophone Concerto (2024)
(Three Mathematical Diversions)- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Three Mathematical Diversions was commissioned by Orpheus Sinfonia with support from The Marchus Trust, The Vaughan Williams Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation and Arts Council England. The 2nd movement ‘Elliptical murmurations’ was commissioned by The Shuttleworth Trust. The complete work was first performed on 26th June 2025 at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London by the Orpheus Sinfonia with Jonathan Radford, saxophone, conducted by Thomas Carroll
- perc/str
- Alto Saxophone
- 20 min
Programme Note
My saxophone concerto, Three Mathematical Diversions, is inspired by various cutting edge mathematical principles that my friend Professor Yang-Hui He told me about during my time as Visiting Fellow in the Creative Arts at Merton College, Oxford.
The movements are as follows:
I - The search for ein stein - A new shape called an einstein has taken the math world by storm. The craggy, hat-shaped tile can cover an infinite plane with patterns that never repeat.
II - Elliptic murmurations - Elliptic curves are mathematical curves resembling a boomerang that have significant applications in number theory and cryptography. In certain conditions, they combine in ways that look like starling murmurations.
III - The theories of everything - Mathematicians are searching for a way to unify all known physical phenomena in the universe into a single, coherent framework.
CFH, June 2025