Artvark Saxophone Quartet Artvark Saxophone Quartet

Artvark Saxophone Quartet

In a hectic world full of temptations, Artvark goes his own way, unmistakably and driven by an intrinsic sense of urgency in search of new music and new encounters. The quartet meanders through musical traditions, sometimes on the intersection of classical and jazz, while always soulful and with blues, and sways across the stage according to an improvised choreography.

Artvark thrills, Artvark stinks, growls and sizzles. Rolf Delfos (alto sax), Bart Wirtz (alto sax), Mete Erker (tenor sax) and Peter Broekhuizen (baritone sax) blend their different backgrounds to form a creative and unique sound: the sound of Artvark!

Artvark Saxophone Quartet photo Ruud Baan
Photo Ruud Baan

Artvark is known for playing at famous Dutch jazz venues such as LantarenVenster Rotterdam and Bimhuis Amsterdam, and also at larger concert venues like De Doelen Rotterdam and Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. The group appeared several times on national television on diverse shows that host the best live classical, jazz and world music. Artvark performed at major international festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival, Cairo Jazz Festival, Bohemia Jazz Festival Prague, Jazz Bruges in Belgium, Bray Jazz Festival and Steve Reich Festival in Ireland and toured in Ireland, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Egypt, the UK and several times South Africa. The quartet has engaged in special and remarkable collaborations, such as with jazz legend Peter Erskine, Senegalese master drummer Doudou N’Diaye Rose, the Danish indierock band Efterklang and the famous minimal music composer Philip Glass. They recorded the album ‘Sly Meets Callas’ featuring the classical soprano Claron McFadden (USA) and played at numerous prestigious classical music festivals, like ‘Grachtenfestival Amsterdam’, ‘Rotterdamse Opera Dagen’ and toured the theatres extensively.

Artvark aspires to connect worlds and cross borders, both in themselves and their music. They tirelessly look for more, keep digging and rooting through the mud, looking for that one truffle.

Artvark Saxophone Quartet photo Ruud Baan
Photo Ruud Baan