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Born in Wellington, New Zealand on 18 September 1951, Paul Sarcich began his music career as a percussionist in military bands before progressing to orchestral and freelance work.
He is largely self-taught as a composer, although he has studied with Leonard Salzedo in the UK. His music is noted for its rhythmic and dramatic flair, and his output particularly reflects his performance background in percussion, brass and voice, together with his ability at orchestration.
He has also worked in the areas of vocal study and performance, conducting, adjudicating, concert direction, music journalism, publishing, CD production and teaching.
His work Matters Arising for multisaxophone soloist and three quintets won the Best Composition by an Australian Composer Award in the 1998 Sounds Australian Awards.
Paul Sarcich listens to contemporary British music for woodwind orchestra
Paul Sarcich delves into the output of the Belgian equivalent of 'Les Six'
Paul Sarcich is impressed by Mexican music recorded by Mr McFall's Chamber
Eight new North American works for solo cello and orchestra impress Paul Sarcich
Spanish music of a bygone era
Paul Sarcich discovers the music of Robert Kahn
Trumpet concertos by Alexander Arutiunian, Vladimir Peskin and Alfred Desenclos
Paul Sarcich explores the music of Pēteris Vasks
Paul Sarcich listens to music by Nikos Skalkottas
Music by Poulenc and Koechlin
Paul Sarcich listens to traditional Croatian song plus jazz-rock inflected arrangements
Debussy and Jazz. 'For those with wide enough ears it will be an attractive and thought-provoking listen.'
Wind band music by Percy Grainger. '... a band of obviously first-rate musicians, informed conducting from Engeset, and excellent recording ...'
Paul Sarcich was at the Echoes Festival's PanAmericana concert, which illustrated the cross-influence between North and South American music
Bohuslav Martinu's 'The Greek Passion'. '... the production is nothing less than workmanlike, rising in places to something more inspired ...'
Short cello works by Bohuslav Martinu. '... small storms should be taken in small doses.'
Piano music by Richard Fowles in homage to Erik Satie. 'Christina McMaster is fully sensitive to the spirit of the enterprise ...'
Violin and piano music by René de Boisdeffre. 'To describe Boisdeffre as "worthy but dull" would be doing him a disservice ...'
Brass band works in memoriam. '... the bands are the best of Wales and play demanding music with utter professionalism.'
American soprano Patrice Michaels. 'Plenty of good things here ...'
Fauré songs for bass. 'Roy Howat's accompaniments are crystal-clear always ...'
Music by Ferenc Farkas for oboe and strings. 'The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra peforms wirh obvious care and commitment ...'
Reconstructed music from the Celtic church. '... immaculate in execution ...'
Spanish song, familiar and unfamiliar. 'High quality work all round.'
Polly Ferman's Glamour Tango. '... heaps of pizzazz, needle-sharp playing ...'
Music for soprano and percussion orchestra. 'The percussion work on this album is of a very high standard ...'
The latest disc from Roger Argente's Superbrass. 'Who but the best professionals could live up to this?'
Orchestral music by Jan van der Roost. '... colourful and indeed striking ...'
The McCormick Percussion Group. '... much to delight the ear.'
Music by Gustav Holst. '... music of charm and individuality.'
Vaughan Williams conducted by Hickox. '... this series will undoubtedly please British music aficionados.'
Modern music for wind instruments. '... decent production values.'
Roger Argente's Superbrass. '... one almost gets the smell of Renaissance Spain.'
Janácek's Sinfonietta and Glagolitic Mass. '... Wit and his Polish forces come out of it all extremely well indeed.'
Operatic bass arias sung by William Powers. '... a formidable mixture of operatic styles ...'
Contemporary Canadian music for marimba. 'Meunier proves equal to all the demands ...'
Michelle Stebleton plays music for solo horn, and Paul Sarcich is impressed. '... both musical and technical satisfaction ...'
Lavinia Meijer plays recent music for harp. '... an exceptional player ...'
Paul Sarcich visits the West Cork Chamber Music Festival
Petrenko conducts Shostakovich symphonies. '... care and thoughtfulness ...'
A film about Delius. '... a commendable breadth.'
Choral music 'from a Russian cathedral'. '... engineered to tranquillity ...'
Music from Tony Gould and David Ward-Steinman. '... two players who specialise in shades of touch ...'
Italian baroque music played on saxophones. '... quality with a very large Q.'
Balakirev and Russian folksong. '... to be applauded.'
The complete wind quintets of Ferenc Farkas. '... the whole set simply reeks charm.'
A recital for harp
A book about the business of conducting
Havergal Brian's Symphonies 4 and 12. '... Adrian Leaper marshals his enormous forces well ...'
Symphonies by Adolphus Hailstork. '... right on the ball, clean and clear ...'
Steven Schick's 'The Percussionist's Art'
Classical music news. September 2022 Newsletter - Our September 2022 PDF newsletter has just been published
Profile. Landmark Collaborations - A personal reminiscence of British conductor Lawrence Leonard, by Keith Bramich
Classical music news. Learn to Conduct in London - Learn to conduct orchestras on a one-year course based in London
CD Spotlight. Slickly Professional - The latest in Cala Records' 'London Sound' series impresses Howard Smith. '... music of surpassing excellence.'
Old and New Worlds - Ioana Osoianu talks to Keith Bramich about her life in the East and West
Record box. Slick and fun - The London trumpet sound impresses Keith Bramich