Sax Whales to wail in China
The Santa Cruz-based Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra is spearheading an effort to assemble 1,000 sax players from around the world to perform atop the Great Wall of China next summer.
Orchestra founder Don Stevens conceived the event, part of International Olympic Day activities in China on June 23, “to show the Great Wall as a symbol of peace that can bring people of all nations together through music.”
The concert will be conducted by historian and composer Gunther Schuller, and the music director is Mark Watters, the four-time Emmy-winner who was music director for the 1996 and 2002 Olympic Games. The performance is slated to be broadcast live on Chinese television and carried to the rest of the world over the Internet.
Stevens says half the musicians will be from China, the others from the countries throughout the rest of the world, ranging from professionals to high school players. Participants are signing up through the orchestra’s Web site, www.nuclearwhales.com.
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