Calefax Reed Quintet

Dutch contemporary music ensemble, widely renowned as the inventors of the "reed quintet" (oboe, soprano clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon) in the modern classical repertoire. Active since 1985, Calefax Reed Quintet toured internationally and proactively worked to popularize the new format, commissioning over two hundred original works and re-arranging a broad chamber repertoire. By the mid-2000s, a few ensembles emerged in Holland and Argentina; following the success of UNC Greensboro's Eastwind Reed Quintet (2006) and Akropolis Quintet established at The University Of Michigan in 2009, dozens of reed quintets appeared across the United States. A semi-official "Worldwide Reed Quintet Network" maintained by Calefax on its website currently lists over 60 ensembles from all over Europe, England, North America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.

Calefax started as a quartet when four Barlaeus Gymnasium students asked renowned composer and trombonist Willem van Manen to write an exclusive piece for them. (Saxophonists Raaf Hekkema and Lucas Van Helsdingen, bassoonist Alban Wesly and oboist Eduard Wesly just performed Manen's opera with the school orchestra on the gymnasium's 100th anniversary.) Maestro soon delivered Barlaeus Blaaskwintet, suggesting the clarinet for a richer sound spectrum. In November 1985, four artists debuted the "Barlaeus Wind Quintet" at De Ysbreeker, with one of their music teachers, Geert Kapteijns, playing the extra part; clarinetist Ivar Berix replaced him soon after the first concert. The quintet now featured two saxophones, a bassoon, an oboe and a clarinet. Shortly afterward, Lucas Helsdingen switched to bass clarinet as the "mid-range" section was overpowering and too harsh with two saxophones, solidifying the now-canonic ensemble. Calefax Ensemble's repertoire spans the entire music history, from Renaissance and Baroque to impressionist composers, jazz, free improv, avant-garde and experimental music. The quintet has embraced some unorthodox stage practices, such as playing by heart and without chairs on stage and announcing compositions loudly (impacted and inspired by techniques of Ricciotti Ensemble street orchestra).

Calefax Reed Quintet has collaborated with numerous other instrumental and vocal ensembles, including Tony Overwater Trio, Quatuor Danel, Orlando Consort, Mad Cows Sing, Cappella Amsterdam and Nederlands Kamerkoor, as well as solo vocalists: Lenneke Ruiten, Christianne Stotijn, Helena Rasker, Denise Jannah, Mohammad Motamedi, Cora Burggraaf and Astrid Seriese. Calefax performed with pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Ivo Janssen, Louis van Dijk and Michiel Braam, violinists Liza Ferschtman and Claude Chalhoub, cellist Matthew Barley, harpist Remy van Kesteren, trombonist Christian Lindberg, trumpeter Eric Vloeimans, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, visual artists Jaap Drupsteen and Wouter van Reek. The quintet was also recorded on Bob Zimmerman's soundtrack for De Nieuwe Wildernis ("New Wilderness") natural history documentary in 2013.

The band's name came from a long-defunct "Calefax N.V. Amsterdam—Rotterdam" ship engine construction company. (However, musicians only uncovered the backstory years later and initially adopted it as simply an unusual word that Raaf Hekkema remembered seeing on a street sign in his childhood on Amsterdam's Bickeseiland "western island.")

CALEFAX line-up
Oboe: Oliver Boekhoorn (since 1997)
Clarinet: Bart de Kater (since 2020)
Saxophone: Raaf Hekkema
Bass Clarinet: Jelte Althuis (since '94)
Bassoon: Alban Wesly

Former members
Oboe: Eduard Wesly (1985–1997)
Clarinet: Geert Kapteijns (1985), Ivar Berix (85–2020)
Bass Clarinet: Lucas Helsdingen (ca. 1986–94)