biography
John Harle is one of the world’s leading saxophonists, and the most significant performer of the saxophone in the concert hall today. With over half a million record sales within the classical genre, he has popularised the classical saxophone, bringing it to the forefront of the public's imagination, whilst inspiring a wealth of new works for the instrument from composers of international recognition.
Creating history at The Royal College of Music, London with a final graduation mark of 100%, and after post-graduate study in Paris with Daniel Deffayet, he quickly developed and established a different sound for the classical saxophone that would lead to it's acceptance and celebration within the general public.
John went on to win the Concert Artists Guild Amcon Award in New York which launched a major international soloist career encompassing concerto appearances across the globe with the world's most distinguished conductors.
He has had over twenty five concerti written for him, by composers such as John Tavener, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Mark Anthony Turnage, Michael Torke and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. In 1995, his outrageous performance of Birtwistle’s Saxophone Concerto “Panic”, which he premiered at the Last Night of the Proms, propelled him to a level of high international recognition, and in 1996, John followed this performance with his own work,“Terror and Magnificence”, recorded by Decca, and performed with Elvis Costello, culminated in a sell-out concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
He has worked prominently with the conductors Riccardo Chailly, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Neville Marriner and Franz Welser-Most. In recital, John Harle works regularly with Steve Lodder and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.
In 1989 John was appointed the youngest ever Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he taught most of the significant british saxophonists of the following generations. He also teaches in private practice where he has developed his methods to assist saxophonists of all playing genres to develop their instrumental technique and performance levels. His book, 'The Virtuoso Saxophonist' will be published in Spring 2014.