Roya Quartet

Petra Horvat, soprano saxophone
Weronika Partyka, alto saxophone
Betka Bizjak Kotnik, tenor saxophone
Jovana Joka, baritone saxophone

Programme:
Rihards Dubra, Lux aeterna (2003)
György Ligeti, Six Bagatelles, for wind quintet (1953), arr. Fabio Oehrli
Guillermo Lago,  Ciudades (Cities, from 2011)
Sarajevo
Addis Ababa
Montevideo
Augustín Rodríguez, Juco (2019)
Oliwia Abravesh, Historie z oddali (Stories from Afar, 2017)
 
Established in 2013, Roya Quartet is a unique group of female saxophonists united in their love for classical saxophone and chamber music-making. Driven by the desire to present the very best of the classical saxophone repertoire to wider audiences, theirs is a musicianship of the highest quality.
Natives of Slovenia, Croatia and Poland, the musicians draw on a rich assortment of music genres, traditions, heritages and values. The quartet’s work rests on promoting Slovenian, Croatian and Polish composers. Up until now, they have performed the works of the Croatian composers Margareta Ferek-Petrić, Berislav Šipuš and Zvjezdan Ružić, Slovenian composers Nina Šenk and Zvezdana Novaković and Polish composers Dariusz Przybylski, Anna Maria Huszcza and Oliwia Wronikowska. Roya contributed recordings for the following albums: Nina Šenk’s Art, Anna Maria Huszcza’s wydziwiAnka and Zvezdana Novaković’s Slovena Voices.

Through a variety of projects, Roya are searching for different music genres and forms of expression. This crystallized as their annual Ladies Night event, a project that in June 2016 featured a special take on tango, with the musicians of the Quatro por Tango ensemble. The excellent arrangements for bandoneon, piano, violin, double bass and the saxophone quartet were arranged by the Argentinian composer Fernando Muslera. The compositions of the legendary Astor Piazzolla were revived in a new guise. In June, 2017 they presented Village Ladies, a project inspired by traditional music in collaboration with composers from Croatia, Poland and Slovenia and the singer and composer Zvezdana Novaković.

An amalgam of different temperaments and individual charismas, Roya have been conquering the hearts of audiences at home and abroad.