The South African Saxophone Catalogue

My name is Josie McClure and I am a South African saxophonist currently based in the Netherlands. I hope for this website to be a valuable resource to musicians, saxophonists and enthusiasts of saxophone music. This catalogue can be seen as a “passion project” of mine that has been made possible through my research at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag and the generous support of both the Stichting De Zaaier Foundation (Netherlands) and Skye Foundation (South Africa).

Over the years of my journey with the saxophone, I found there to be a “dearth” in the classical saxophone repertoire written by South African composers. This was especially prevalent when wanting to partake in concerto festivals or competitions within South Africa. Often, I could not locate scores as well as there being no reference to what has been written or what has been performed. My frustration planted a seed for my research. 

After conducting research at Stellenbosch University for my Master’s, I realised that – contrary to my previous assumptions – there was quite an expansive range of repertoire that has not been documented as a single resource or has not been documented at all. An exciting discovery, but also tragic as many works have been lost, destroyed, and remain hidden in archives, forgotten hard drives or the attic of someone’s home. 

The purpose of this catalogue is to document and preserve music for the classical saxophone composed by South African composers. One of the challenges of this project was trying to locate scores through the “leads” I came across, and even more challenging (sometimes) was trying to contact the respective composers. I realised it was impossible to collect “every” score or work and this project is just one big process that I hope to continue into the future.

The idea of this catalogue is for it to be continually updated. If reading this you notice there is a composition missing, or an inaccuracy or if you would like to submit a new composition, videos or recordings of the compositions: please do! I hope to keep this project alive in the near future so others can easily access the compositions that South African composers have written. It is a passion of mine to ensure that South African music is performed and preserved for musicians both now and in the future.

Through this project, I have discovered new works (some have never been premiered or recorded) and have met amazing musicians, composers and friends through this work. I have also been lucky enough to begin new collaborations from this project. I hope for this catalogue to be a connection for South African composers and saxophonists too.

One will see that some of the pages remain relatively incomplete. This was when I discovered a score but had no way of reaching the composer, or there was no trace of them or the work. Please let me know if you find one of these pages and can help me piece together the missing information.

I designed this website from scratch – with zero expertise in web design. YouTube was my greatest tool – therefore if there are any errors or suggestions one could make to improve the functionality of this website:  please let me know.

If you would like to get in touch with me, please visit the contact button in the menu, or contact me through the social media platforms provided below.

South Africa’s rich cultural heritage is heard in it’s music – and therefore deserves to be listened to, played and documented for future generations. I hope this catalogue will inspire you to listen, play – and perhaps even compose – South African saxophone repertoire.

Best wishes

Josie