love songs for the broken

Rob Burton (soprano saxophone), and Mark Rogers (piano) on 16 October 2025 at Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey (England, UK)

for Rob Burton

These 'songs' for soprano saxophone and piano gives voice to the queer love story - be it one of passion, absurdity, repentance, or sorrow. Each short movement takes its name from a poem written by a queer poet from history, illustrating the often hidden and secret love of queer people. From seeing a sunlit lover in bed Kari Edwards’ [the day shifts…], to young love and the despair of rejection in Frank O’Hara’s ‘Mayakovsky’. The one exception being that of 7th-century, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, where we have no idea whether he was queer but the fluidity and universality in his haiku has always spoken to me. Although initially set out as being a ‘concerto’ for saxophone, this work has developed into a series of snapshots into the intimacy and crystalline effervescence of the soprano saxophone.

-njd.

soprano saxophone, piano

11’