Regularly invited to perform on France Musique, the Quatuor Yendo quickly established itself as a group with a strong identity. From the meeting of these four saxophonists, united by a shared musical ideology despite their diverse European backgrounds, emerged a project to adapt Enrique Granados' *Danzas Españolas* for piano to their ensemble. In parallel, the quartet commissioned Argentine composer Luis Naón to create a suite of dances to complement Granados’ works. A co-commission from Radio France, the premiere of *Tangos Utopicos* took place in October 2015 on France Musique’s *Alla Brève* program, hosted by Anne Montaron. This project was first presented in its entirety during a recital for the Jeunes Talents association at the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris in February 2016 and was finalized with a studio recording in December of the same year.
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After performing several times at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Yendo went on to interpret Philippe Geiss's concerto *United Colors of Saxophone* in the Joseph Kosma Auditorium of the CNRR in Nice with the Orchestre d’Harmonie de la Ville de Nice. In July 2015, they won 2nd prize at the Strasbourg SaxOpen International Quartet Competition and subsequently gave recitals at festivals including Vigan, Moissac, La Baule, and Aulnay, as well as in Alsace at Domaine Gross. Their appearance on Gaëlle Le Gallic's show on France Musique in September 2015 allowed them to solidify their collaboration with virtuoso jazz saxophonist Baptiste Hérbin for an exceptional crossover combining romantic music and improvisation.
Quatuor Yendo holds a Master’s degree in chamber music from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), where they studied with David Walter in 2017.
Antonio Garcia Jorge - Soprano Saxophone
Jonathan Radford - Alto Saxophone
Antonin Pommel - Tenor Saxophone
Martin Trillaud - Baritone Saxophone
In September 2015, Gaëlle Le Gallic invited us to France Musique for her program *Génération Jeunes Interprètes*, where we had the opportunity to present our project on the *Danzas Españolas* with Baptiste Herbin.
At that time, we were deep into adapting Enrique Granados' *Danzas Españolas* for piano for our ensemble when we crossed paths with Argentine composer Luis Naón. This encounter and the commission of a suite of dances from him (co-commissioned by Radio France) led to the creation of our *Utópico* project, which intertwines romantic and contemporary music, bridging two very different styles of composition. Between the twelve *Danzas Españolas* from 1890 and the five *Tangos Utópicos* from 2015, popular music serves as a link and source of inspiration for both composers. We quickly came up with the idea to record these two works together, and it was during one of our concerts at the SaxOpen Festival in Strasbourg 2015 that saxophonist Baptiste Herbin added a third dimension to the project by improvising on Granados' *Danzas*. His virtuoso poetry, on a few tracks, completes what is now an exceptional crossover, and firmly establishes the title of our project, *Utópico*, as a reflection of this dynamic.