Juana Palop
Co-founder and teacher
She earned a “Cum Laude” Master’s degree in saxophone at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam , studying with Arno Bornkamp (2009). From 2010 to 2018, she was a member of the Banda Municipal de Barcelona.
Her artistic career brings together orchestral work, chamber music, and pedagogy. She collaborates with ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, musicAeterna and LUDWIG, and has worked under conductors including Pablo Heras-Casado, Barbara Hannigan and Teodor Currentzis.
As a chamber musician, she develops a central part of her professional activity with the Berlage Saxophone Quartet and Trio Abril, where she explores the saxophone quartet repertoire and contemporary creation, developing and performing new works.
Since 2018, she has been based in the Netherlands, maintaining an intensive artistic and pedagogical activity. She teaches saxophone at ArtEZ Conservatory in Zwolle and is a regular guest teacher at the Tilburg Sax Summit. She was co-director of the Alcosax International Saxophone Festival (2010–2018) and currently serves on the artistic leadership of the Eibarsax Festival, supporting new generations in the search for their own voice through music.
Arno Bornkamp
Co-founder and teacher
The classical saxophonist Arno Bornkamp is a unique figure both in the saxophone world and in classical music in general. With a career spanning over 40 yearshe has captivated audiences with performances full of energy and style, blending lyricism, passion, and a deep sense of storytelling. He firmly believes in the saxophone as an instrument of infinite nuances and colors, capable of reflecting the complexity of the human soul in all its light and shadows. His interpretative approach is highly personal, bringing each piece to life with his own voice and a musical sense that goes beyond the notes.
He has performed over 200 concerts as a soloist with orchestras worldwide, interpreting both the standard saxophone repertoire and premieres of contemporary works, many of which have been written especially for him. Among these, the «Tallahatchie Concerto» by Jacob ter Veldhuisstands out as one of the most emblematic pieces in his repertoire.
In the field of chamber music, Bornkamp has maintained long-standing collaborations, such as with the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet (1982-2017) and pianist Ivo Janssen (1984-2019). He is currently a member of Duo Calvadoré, alongside the flamish pianist Jan Lust, and Trío Abril, together with Juana Palop and Frank van de Laar.
His interest in pushing the boundaries of the saxophone has led him to develop «Little Big Horn», a multimedia production combining music for baritone saxophone with visual and sound elements. This project, created with André Arends, pays tribute to the baritone saxophone, musical friendship, and life itself, featuring works by composers such as Ryo Noda, Branford Marsalis, Katharina Thomsen, Gregory Wanamaker and Peter Vigh.
Arno Bornkamp has also dedicated a significant part of his career to teaching, shaping new generations of saxophonists at the Conservatorio de Ámsterdam, where he has been a professor for decades. His influence extends beyond the classroom, as he is regularly invited to give masterclasses at leading festivals and music institutions worldwide.
Throughout his career, he has released numerous recordingsboth as a soloist and in collaboration with other artists. His most recent releases on the Genuin include:
«Dance – Bach by Bornkamp» (2020)
«Folies de Baryton» (2023)
«Bornkamp & Friends play Henri Sauguet» (2024)
Xabier Oruesagasti
Co-founder and teacher
Xabier Oruesagasti is a saxophonist whose career spans from classical and contemporary music to interdisciplinary projects involving dance and music theater. He studied at Musikene, where he studied classical saxophone while also exploring jazz with the Reunion Big Band, with whom he recorded a CD and performed at international festivals for four years. He later completed his master’s degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under the guidance of Arno Bornkamp.
In the orchestral field, he has collaborated with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi (OSE) and Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid (OSM)Additionally, he has worked with composers such as Benoît Sitzia and premiered works with the Ensemble Kuraia. In 2019, he participated in the Cello Biennale de Ámsterdam, premiering Rimpelingen by Jan-Peter de Graaff alongside cellist Maya Fridman.
As an artistic director, he led the recording of the album Eibarko Kantaka project dedicated to reviving traditional Basque repertoire adapted for wind band and choir. He also directed the musical Forjarien Kanta and developed the performance Melted Room, presented in Amsterdam.
Since 2021, he has regularly collaborated with the Berlage Saxophone Quartet, taking part in major productions such as the national tour of De Rechtvaardigen, together with Cappella Amsterdam and writer Jan Brokken, as well as the music theater piece Acts of Citizenship, premiered at the Oerol Festival.
In recent years, his interest in the connection between music and movement has led him to work closely with the world of dance and performance. His first creation in this field, A Bubbles’ Dress, with the collective XATexplores the interaction between saxophone, electronics, and movement.
In 2025, he is launching the first edition of Eibarsaxan international saxophone festival and course in Eibar, with the aim of creating a space for education, artistic exchange, and creation.
Sara Zazo
Teacher
Sara Zazo Romero (Madrid, 1989) develops her pedagogical and artistic career between Switzerland, France, and Spain, with an international trajectory focused on contemporary music and interdisciplinary projects.
She studied at CSM Badajoz, Conservatoire Jacques Thibaud de Bordeaux and Haute École de Musique de Lausannereceiving distinctions such as the Fritz Gerber Award 2018 and the 2nd Prize Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung 2016, as well as support from Fondation Lyra, Fondation Max Jost and Fondation Irène Dénéréaz.
She is the co-founder of the duo Altera Inde, with which she has premiered more than 20 works and recorded the album Hiraeth. She is also a member of the Swiss company 2b Company, with which she premiered Giselle… (2020) and Carmen (2023) by François Gremaud, performing across Switzerland, France, and Belgium.
Committed to contemporary music, she has collaborated with composers such as Simon Steen Andersen, Stefano Gervasoni, Georges Aperghis, Heinz Holliger, Olga Neuwirth, Stilianos Dimou and Peter EötvösShe has worked with the Lucerne Festival, IBSUD Quartet, Ensemble Container and has orchestral experience with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Orquesta de Palau des Arts, Orquesta de Extremadura and Verbier FestivalAs a pedagogue, she has given masterclasses at institutions such as Andorra Sax Fest, University of Minnesota, Melbourne Faculty of Music and PESMD BordeauxSince 2016, she has been a professor at the Conservatoire de la Broye (Suiza) , and since 2023, she has been teaching in the Conservatoire de Bordeaux «Jacques Thibaud» en el programa CPES , while also collaborating with PESMD Bordeaux alongside Marie Bernadette Charrier.
Xavier Larsson
Teacher
Xavier Larsson (Ciutadella de Menorca, 1991) is a saxophone professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and leads the saxophone ensemble at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
He began his musical training in his hometown, studying both violin and saxophone. He later graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he obtained a Konzertexamen under the guidance of Daniel Gauthier and a master's degree in contemporary music with David Smeyers.
As a soloist, he has performed in venues such as the Köln Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie de Hamburgo, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Musikverein de Viena, Palau de la Música Catalana and Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, working with conductors including Ingo Metzmacher, Francesc Prat, Stefan Blunier, Paul Mann, Mario Kiosk and Vanich Potavanich.
He has been awarded in over 20 international competitions, including the Classic Winds International Festival, SaxoVoce, Michal Spisak Competition, Intermusica and the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb. He has also received scholarships from the Hezekiah Wardwell Scholarship, Märkische Kulturstiftung and Alfred Toepfer Stiftung.
In chamber music, he is a member of Fukio Quartet and Trio SpiegelBildand has collaborated as a violinist with the OCIM Chamber Orchestra. His recordings with Columna Música and Ars Produktion feature works by Georg Friedrich Haas, Caroline Shaw, Fabien Lévy, Robin Hofmann, Bruno Mantovani and Edison Denisov, with Transcend , his album with Fukio Quartet, earning a nomination at the Opus Klassik Awards 2023.
Additionally, he frequently collaborates with composers to expand the saxophone repertoire, taking part in premieres and new creations.
Catarina Paiva
Teacher
Catarina (Portugal, 1997) is freelance dancer and maker based in Amsterdam. She graduated from the Modern Theatre Dance department at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK).
In her work, she creates sensorial, physical worlds that move between dance, theatre, and live performance. Using objects, space, and direct interaction, she breaks the traditional distance between performer and audience, crafting immersive experiences that invite personal connection and reflection.
Catarina often collaborates with musicians to explore how movement can reshape their relationship to their instrument, transforming how they play, interact, and perform. In her ongoing collaboration with saxophonist Xabier Oruesagasti, she investigates how bodily awareness and unconventional actions can open up new spaces for both musical and physical expression.
In 2021, she co-created Giulia or Not Giulia or Not with Carolina Papetti during a residency at DOOR, and collaborated with Tamir Eting on The Tiniest Act III through residencies with ICK Amsterdam and SHIFFT Utrecht. That same year, she performed in Wild, a project by Danstheater AYA in collaboration with Maat Saxophone Quartet.
From 2022 onward, she performed with the Amsterdam-based company DadoDans in productions including STeK, NachT and KoKers.
In 2023, she presented two original works in Amsterdam: A Bubbles’ Dress, an interdisciplinary performance combining dance, saxophone, and live electronics to explore perception and the nature of thought; and There is this girl, a raw and playful duet shaped by sisterhood and a rejection of societal norms.
Since 2024, Catarina has taken part in Leven in je Buurt, a community-based project with Muziektheater PRA, continuing her commitment to collaborative and socially engaged performance work.
Her most recent piece, A fragment of Earth still open to listen, co-created with Xabier Oruesagasti, premiered in 2025 at the Eibarsax Festival in Spain. The duet merges dance and live music as equal partners, blurring the lines between sound and movement. Through structured improvisation and shared physicality, the performers explored connection and listening. The work unfolds as a poetic landscape where both bodies and sounds resonate with the fragility and strength of human presence.
Tobias Borsboom
Accompanist
The Dutch pianist Tobias Borsboom is known for a ‘golden touch’(Trouw)and his ‘personal and immensely colourful playing’(Dagblad van het Noorden/ Leeuwarder Courant). Het Parool wrote on the occasion of his latest CD that , ‘Young daredevil Tobias Borsboom deserves sold out halls with his beautiful Pan’. 'Pan'.
Borsboom has established himself as a versatile and creative musician with great finesse and a broad repertoire. In recent seasons, Tobias has performed in all major concert halls in the Netherlands as winner of the Dutch Classical Talent Award and the Audience Award. With his solo programme Wanderer and as a soloist in Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F with the Netherlands Student Orchestra, he has toured in the Netherlands and abroad. He also performs as a soloist with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and in 2026 with the Residentie OrkestIn his solo recitals, he presents high-profile programmes in which he combines the great masters with contemporary music. Together with piano duo partner Yukiko Hasegawa, Tobias Borsboom regularly performs in Japan, where they were elected as Shizuoka no Meishutachi (Masters of Shizuoka) in 2018. His debut album Wanderer and his recording with 'Pan' by Vítězslav Novák have been received with much praise in the press and media.
Borsboom excels not only as a soloist, but also as an inspired chamber musician. The Festival Klassiek achter de Duinen, which he organises together with violinist and duo partner Pieter van Loenen , has since 2021quickly grown into an important event, praised for its top artists, attractive programming and good atmosphere.
Borsboom's artistic interests are broad, as evidenced by numerous collaborations with other art forms. With author Jan Brokkenhe regularly gives literary concerts. As an acting musician, Tobias Borsboom plays in his own productions The Schubertians & the Housewarming 1826 and Schubert/Schober. And Mr. Tobias and the Black Monster, his collaborative music-theatre production with Oorkaan,delighted audiences of hundreds of children and their parents. He completed his master's degree with Jan Wijn at the Conservatorio de Ámsterdam in 2013. Before that, he was trained by Paolo Giacometti at the Conservatorio de Utrecht (Utrecht Conservatory, Young Talent). In addition to his active concert life, Tobias Borsboom works at the Conservatorio de Ámsterdam, where he is the accompanist of the class of Arno Bornkamp and Willem van Merwijk