Serenade for Tenor, Saxophone and Orchestra ("My Dear Benjamin")
2016 musical composition by Lyle Chan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Serenade for Tenor, Saxophone and Orchestra ("My Dear Benjamin") is a musical composition by Lyle Chan.
Its text is drawn from letters between English composer Benjamin Britten and his first romantic interest, Wulff Scherchen.[1] This orchestral song cycle forms a section within Chan's larger work Voices and Instruments.
The work was commissioned by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and premiered at the 2016 Brisbane Festival, on 22 September.[2] Scherchen died six weeks before the concert, at the age of 96,[3][4] and the concert was dedicated to his memory.[2]
Both ArtsHub and The AU Review included the song cycle in their Top Ten shows at the 2016 Brisbane Festival.[5][6] It is one of four works shortlisted for Orchestral Work of the Year in the 2017 Art Music Awards.[7]
The work has been broadcast in its entirety twice by ABC Classic FM, in November 2016 and January 2017.[8][9]
A complete performance lasts approximately 40 minutes. The world premiere was performed by tenor Andrew Goodwin, saxophonist Michael Duke, and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under conductor Paul Kildea, the Britten biographer.