Amy Dickson
Amy Dickson (born c. 1982) is a London-based, Australian classical saxophone player. Her 2013 album Dusk & Dawn achieved the #1 position in the UK classical charts.[1] She also won Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2013 Classic Brit Awards.[2]
Biography
London-based classical saxophonist Amy Dickson began lessons at the age of six and made her concerto debut ten years later. Dickson has performed throughout the world in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House with orchestras including The Philharmonia, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Following her concerto debut aged 16 playing the Concerto pour Saxophone Alto by Pierre Max Dubois, with Henryk Pisarek and the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, Dickson became a recipient of the James Fairfax Australian Young Artist of the Year. Dickson moved to London where she took the Jane Melber Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music with Kyle Horch and at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Arno Bornkamp. During this time she became the first saxophonist to win the Gold Medal at the Royal Overseas League Competition, the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards, and the Prince’s Prize.
In 2005 and 2011 she performed for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings at the Teatru Manoel in Valletta, Malta, and the Perth Concert Hall, Australia. She has also performed at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, St James’ Palace in London and for former Australian Prime Minister John Howard at Parliament House, Canberra.
Of her debut album for Sony Music, Smile, Gramophone said: “She has an individual and unusual tone, luscious, silky-smooth, sultry and voluptuous by turns; her phrasing is beautifully finished, her control of dynamic infinitely subtle.” Dickson won the MasterCard Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Classic Brit Awards and attained the coveted no. 1 position in the UK classical charts for her 2013 album ‘Dusk & Dawn’.[3]
Amy Dickson regularly commissions new works, and makes arrangements of existing works from other instrumental repertoire. She has made a substantial contribution to the orchestral, chamber and solo repertoire. Composers who have written for her include Ross Edwards (composer), Peter Sculthorpe, Graham Fitkin, Steve Martland and Huw Watkins.
Amy Dickson is an ambassador of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation,[4] the Prince’s Trust, and is a Selmer Paris Performing Artist.
Press
"Amy Dickson: Siren of seductive, late-night sax", The Telegraph, 29 April 2013 [5]
"The success of Sydney-born, British-based saxophonist Amy Dickson seems to know no bounds." The Australian, 23 November 2013 [6]
"Elegant and sultry in equal measure, this album gives the saxophone some much-deserved credit as a classical instrument." Classic FM (UK), 22 April 2013 [7]
"Amy Dickson becomes first Aussie to win a Classical BRIT" Limelight 4 October 2013 [8]
Albums
- Smile (2009)
- Glass, Tavener, Nyman
- Dusk & Dawn (2013)
- Catch Me If You Can
- A Summer Place (2014)
References
- ↑ "Chart-topper Amy Dickson reclaims the joy of sax for classical fans", The Independent, 6 May 2013. Accessed 9 December 2013
- ↑ "Saxophone bursts into the Classic Brits with breakthrough win for Amy Dickson", The Independent, 2 October 2013. Accessed 8 December 2013
- ↑ AMY DICKSON | Artist | Official Charts
- ↑ Acmf Patron And Ambassadors
- ↑ Amy Dickson: Siren of seductive, late-night sax - Telegraph
- ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/dusk-dawn-amy-dickson/story-fn9n8gph-1226765981320
- ↑ Amy Dickson - Dusk and Dawn - Classic FM
- ↑ Amy Dickson becomes first Aussie to win a Classical BRIT