Dutch saxophonist Arno Bornkamp (born 1959) is the archetype of the modern virtuoso, feeling equally at home in traditional and contemporary repertoire. Hailed as a lyrical musician with a great sense of performance, Bornkamp studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Ed Bogaard and graduated in 1986 with the highest distinction. He has won many awards, the ‘Silver Laurel of the Concertgebouw’ and the ‘Netherlands Music Prize’ among the most noteworthy.

The latter enabled him to go abroad, studying in France with Daniël Deffayet and Jean-Marie Londeix, in Japan with Ryo Noda as well as working with composers such as Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen.Since his 1982 solo debut in Rome, performing the ‘Concertino da Camera’ by Jacques Ibert, he has played more than two hundred concerts with orchestras around the world, including the most important works from the saxophone repertoire in addition to new concerti written especially for him, such as the ‘Tallahatchie Concerto’ by Jacob TV. Recently Bornkamp added three new works to his already large repertoire: Saxophone Concerti by Joey Roukens and Carlos Michans and the ‘Trois Danses’ (orig. for oboe) by Frank Martin, the last of which he performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the XVI World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews. This fits perfectly into Bornkamp’s ambassadorship for new music: throughout his whole career he has collaborated with composers, such as Martijn Padding, Christian Lauba, Peter van Onna, Otto Ketting, Louis Andriessen, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Simon Burgers, Wijnand van Klaveren, Perry Goldstein and many others.In addition to his solo career, chamber music is one of Arno Bornkamp’s great loves.