Saxophonists
Sarah Field * Fiona Asbury * Hannah Riches * Josie Simmons
Sarah Field ’s work as a trumpeter and saxophonist is diverse and wholly unique. Performances have taken her from the Mercury award winning band ‘Elbow’ to Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto at the Southbank, London to the UK premiere of Stockhausen’s “Abduction” for saxophone and electronics.
Performing regularly on a range of instruments Sarah has appeared with “Sting” on his tour of Europe and DVD “On a Winters Night”. She has recorded with Guy Garvey & Elbow and also toured with English songwriters Seal and Ben Howard. Past solo appearances include performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra with Christopher Warren-Green, concerto’s with RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Kwa Zulu Natal Philharmonic in South Africa with Eno Shao and a performance of Ibert’s Saxophone Concertino with the UK’s critically acclaimed Aurora Orchestra.
Fiona Asbury is a versatile saxophonist, in demand not only as a classical musician but also a jazz and pop player. She has won countless competitions and awards and is now enjoying a hugely varied career in London. In the last few years she has toured Europe and Scandinavia, and performed in Lebanon, Russia, Tunisia, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Morocco, Peru and the Dominican Republic. She has played with large scale productions in arenas, smaller signed bands in some of Europe’s most exclusive underground venues, as well as major corporate events for some of the UK’s finest agencies, both at home and abroad. Fiona’s orchestral experience includes performances and recordings with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Aurora Ensemble as well as performances and education work with Derby-based orchestra, Sinfonia ViVA. She is currently working with producer Matt Steele on a ground-breaking collaboration of original orchestral-electronic music.
​
Hannah studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is based in London as a freelance saxophonist and woodwind player. Hannah predominantly works in musical theatre, most recently on the Olivier award winning show ‘In the Heights’ at the Kings Cross Theatre. She regularly deputises on West End and touring shows in the UK. Hannah has worked with the Mariinksy Theatre Orchestra, Chineke Orchestra and has also toured Europe annually since 2012 with ‘The Show – A Tribute to Abba’ (National Symphony Orchestra).
Josie is a diverse performer/composer and experienced teacher with knowledge of both classical and jazz fields. Since leaving the 'Guildhall School of Music' with a first class honours degree she has performed as an ensemble player and or soloist with a number of classical groups which include The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Cellorhythmics, Sarum Orchestra and the Brandenburg Sinfonia in venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall and the National Portrait Gallery.
Jazz wise she has played with luminaries such as John Surman, Henry Lowther and Chris Lawrence and has performed with the London Jazz Orchestra in venues such as The Vortex Jazz Club and QEH Foyer.
An active composer Josie also writes music for various groups and has written and performed her own saxophone concerto ‘Born Of Fire’ which reflects the instruments character by transcending between classical and jazz idioms.
Recently Josie has become interested in folk music and performs regularly on tin whistle and soprano saxophone in the London Irish Band (LIB) who she is currently writing and recording an album with.
As well as performing regularly Josie is also an influential teacher and works for St Albans School and Enfield and Haringey Boroughs in London.