Julia Nolan
I like the clarity of the tone - velvet when needed and brassy when desired. I try other mouthpieces to keep up to date and like many of them but always return to my Rousseau! I find these mouthpieces help me find my voice.
Biography:
Dr. Julia Nolan maintains an active performing schedule committed to promoting new works for saxophone. She has commissioned works by many Canadian composers including Stephen Chatman, Dorothy Chang, Keith Hamel, Colin MacDonald, Charles Stolte, Robert Pritchard, Nicolas Scherzinger, Jacquie Leggatt, Hope Lee, Fred Stride, Alain Mayrand, Alan Matheson, John Oliver, Jeffrey Ryan, and Stefan Hintersteininger. Concerto performances and premieres include: Stefan Hintersteininger, Concerto, Westcoast Symphony Orchestra (Vancouver) (2016), tour performances (2018) (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia) John Oliver: Cool Cuts (asx/chamber ens) Turning Point Ensemble (2016) Jeffrey Ryan: Brazen (2012) (concerto), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony (NASA, 2016) Charles Stolte: Chamber Concerto, with New Music Edmonton (2007) Ian McDougall: Concerto, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony (2005) Fred Stride: Concerto, CBC Vancouver Orchestra (1994) and band version with National Youth Band of Canada (1999) Paule Maurice: Tableaux de Provence (CBC Vancouver Orchestra) (1991) Chamber/electronics: Keith Hamel: WindoW Robert Pritchard: Strength, Strength 2 Strength Farshid Samandari: Beyond Solo/chamber: Alain Mayrand: Uriel’s Anvil (asx/pno) Denis Bedard: Sonata III (asx/organ); Vocalises (ssx/organ) Alan Matheson: The Question, Three Pieces for Soprano Saxophone Jan Freidlin: Broceliande Concerto (asx/pno) (2012) Stephen Chatman: To the Garden the World (asx/pno) Hope Lee: Jygge: Somebody’s (2 asx) Colin MacDonald: Polys Tonos Nicolas Scherzinger: Through a Winter Landscape (asx/harp); Three Really Mad Tenors (3 tsx) with Steven Stusek, Lauent Estoppy Fred Stride: Two Brothers (2 bsx); Anne-Uity (reworked from violin); Four Stellar Jays (asx, vln, bass, pno) Jeffrey Ryan: Luminous Blue (2020) (solo asx) Donald Freund: Random Acts of Kindness (2015) (ssx/pno) premiere with D. Freund for Eugene Rousseau Retirement concert Matthew Emery: Paths of Quiet Light (reworked from violin), Walk Safely over Soft Places (ssx/pno) Kristopher Fulton: Valkyrie (ssx, Elektra Women’s choir) Robert Buckley: Prestidigitation (asx/band) Discography: Jeffrey Ryan (CD): My Soul upon my Lips: Music for Woodwinds (2020) Chromaticity (CD) with Jane Hayes (piano) & Joan Blackman (violin), Decruck, Stride, Emery, Freund, Murphy, Muczynski, Eychenne (2018) Saxophilia (CD) with Kris Covlin (alto), David Branter (tenor), Colin MacDonald (baritione). All Canadian composers (2018) Denis Bedard (CD): Works for Organ and other Instruments (2016) Chor Leoni Men’s Choir (CD) Wandering Heart: Paul Mealor: I Saw Eternit (2016) Elektra Women’s Choir: Your One and Only Life (2015) Music of Robert Buckley: Prestidigitation with the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy (2015) Robert Pritchard (Strength) DVD, 2010 Alan Matheson: Intrada: The Question (ssx/jazz septet), Three Pieces for Soprano Saxophone (jazz septet), (2004) The Overcoat (Jazz Suites by Dmitri Shostakovitch) CBC Vancouver Orchestra, 1994 Music of Jacquie Leggatt: Cat’s Eye (solo soprano), Girls in their Married Bliss (ssx/pno) (1994) Paule Maurice: Tableaux de Provence: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (1994) As orchestral saxophonist with the Vancouver Symphony, Julia has performed Façade (Walton), Bolero (Ravel), Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky/Ravel), Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninoff), Symphonic Dances (Bernstein), Age of Gold (Shostakovich), Suite from Three Penny Opera (Weill), An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), Lte. Kije (Prokofiev), Creation of the World (Milhaud) and others. With the Vancouver Opera, Werther (Massenet), Three Penny Opera (Weill), Nixon in China (Adams), West Side Story (Bernstein) Taught at the Taiwan International Saxophone Camp and gave master classes in Taipei (2013) Guest artist at the Hong Kong International Saxophone Symposium in July 2011. Head Judge at the First International Saxophone Symposium and Competition (ISSAC) in Columbus, Georgia (2012) International judge at the 5th Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition, in Dinant, Belgium (2010) Shell Lake Saxophone Workshop (w Eugene Rousseau) Link to CD Recordings