Raaf Hekkema

Raaf Hekkema estimately arranged half of the Calefax-repertoire. He regularly performs as a soloist in the classical and contemporary saxophone repertoire, but preferably in his own arrangements. Solo appearances include performances with the Nieuw Ensemble, the Brabant Orchestra, the North Holland Philharmonic Orchestra, the Beethoven Academy (Belgium) and the Orchestre de Chambre de la Gironde (France). Raaf likes to initiate near-impossible projects like the performance in februari 2002 with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, when he premiered his arrangement for saxophone of Paganini's second violin concerto. He has won several prizes. In recent years, Raaf Hekkema has worked on his own settings for saxophone of Paganini's Caprices for violin. He has taken lessons for that reason with the violin master Rudolf Koelman. www.raafhekkema.com