Gilded Melodies: Music for Saxophone, Voice & Piano

A unique journey back to the Gilded Age with Dr. Christopher Brellochs; a program of 19th-century opera arias and fantasies for saxophone and piano, featuring music by Donizetti, Bellini, and Mayeur.

Louis Mayeur (1837-1894) served as bass clarinetist/solo saxophonist with the Orchestre de l'Opéra in Paris, where he performed some of the most popular works of the time. Mayeur turned to the popular operatic melodies of the day and composed fantasies for saxophone and piano, showpieces that combined soaring lyricism of the opera stage with dazzling technical passages.

Experience an original opera aria with piano accompaniment, followed by the saxophone composition that it inspired.

Soprano Sarah Joy Miller, who portrayed legendary opera star Christine Nilsson on HBO’s The Gilded Age, will make a special guest appearance on the program.

About Christopher Brellochs

Dr. Christopher Brellochs currently serves as the Dean of the SUNY Schenectady School of Music and music consultant to Historic Cherry Hill. For over 25 years, Dr. Christopher Brellochs has helped create artistic and professional pathways for students to successfully achieve careers in music. As both a classical and jazz saxophonist, he has performed extensively in New York City from Birdland to prestigious Carnegie Hall.

His current scholarly interest, “Music of the Gilded Age,” includes the research, performance, and presentation of music in historic mansions, as well as the creation of a related documentary series; he also portrayed composer/conductor John Knowles Paine in Julian Fellowes’ HBO series The Gilded Age (Season 1, Episode 4) and assisted the production team with the historic accuracy of the scene. Learn more about the saxophone and preview one of his performances from the historic Lyndhurst Mansion below: