Performer Biography
James Nightingale is a saxophonist based in Sydney, Australia. He performs as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, including recent appearances for Canberra International Music Festival (2021), Backstage Music (2020) and the Melbourne International Saxophone Festival (2019) and is the alto saxophonist with the saxophone quartet Continuum Sax. He has performed as a casual musician with all of Sydney’s professional orchestras. James has been a leading exponent of new Australian music for saxophone, commissioning new works and giving premiere performances, both as a soloist and with Continuum Sax. Recent recordings for Phoenix Central Park have included premiere performances of music by Amanda Cole and Calogero Panvino.
James Nightingale performed Bo, a virtuosic piece for solo saxophone written for Nightingale by composer and saxophonist Barry Cockcroft. And it's moments like these that every concert-goer waits for: a compelling, exciting and beautiful performance that sends you home feeling enriched. A master of circular breathing, harmonics and key slaps, Nightingale coaxed the most extraordinary noises from his instrument.
‘From its mesmerising opening, sounding like distant surf, through its tumbling, rhythmic central section to its profound end, Bo was captivating.’
- Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October, 2002.