Calefax Reed Quintet

The Calefax Reed Qunitet brings listeners 5 passionate wind players. Virtuoso musicians and brilliant arrangers. The creators of a completely new genre: The Reed Quintet.

They are a source of inspiration to a fresh generation reed players that follows in their footsteps. A classical ensemble with a pop mentality: meet Calefax.

“Calefax is five extremely gifted Dutch gents who almost made the reed quintet seem the best musical format on the planet.”– The Times

Repertoire
The repertoire of Calefax spans many centuries of music. They breathe new life into classical chamber music by arranging it themselves to fit their own unique reed quintet line up: oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon. Next to that, approximately two hundred original works have by now been written especially for Calefax by composers from all over the world.

Pioneers
The group publishes sheet music of their own arrangements for reed quintet under the name Calefax Edition, so that they play a pioneering role and put this new genre on the map. All over the world new reed quintets are springing up, following Calefax’ example; from Argentine to New-Zealand. By offering master classes and workshops at conservatories and universities, Calefax passes its specific methods and musical experience on to the next generations.

The group also collaborates with celebrated fellow musicians from the classical music, jazz and world music scene, and with artists from other disciplines, such as choreographers and animators.