Abele Saxophone Quartet

The Abele Saxophone Quartet presents an exciting evening of contemporary music featuring the world premieres of new works by UNCG student composers Liam Deen, Chance Gatewood, Mariah McClammy, Ward Robinson, and Vincent Trotta. The program also includes works by acclaimed composers Mark Engebretson and Bob Reynolds, showcasing the versatility and expressive range of the saxophone quartet. 

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The Abele Saxophone Quartet was formed in 2023 by four friends (music professors at Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC Greensboro) for a performance in the Chapel at Duke University.  The quartet is named after the architect of Duke’s beautiful campus, Julian Abele.  Abele Quartet performs an eclectic mix of music from transcriptions of older music to original new music and jazz standards arranged for saxophone quartet. Abele is Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone, Rahsaan Barber, alto saxophone, Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone, and Mark Engebretson, baritone saxophone. 

Susan Fancher is a renowned classical saxophonist known for her expressive tone and poetic musical interpretations. She has inspired the creation and premiere of over 100 new compositions, collaborating closely with composers both young and more established to expand the saxophone repertoire. Known for her ability to fill even the most complex notation with life, she is recognized as a leading advocate of contemporary music. She has been soprano saxophonist of the Abele, Red Clay, Amherst, Vienna, and Rollin’ Phones saxophone quartets. Recent and upcoming premiere performances include Scott Lindroth’s Schley Road with the Ciompi Quartet, Every Thing Belongs by Harriet Steinke and Crossed Shadows by John Supko with the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Enveloped by Jenni Watson and Rêve des bougainvillées by Andrew Waggoner for solo saxophone, and Sonata by Mark Engebretson and Largo et allegro by Suzanne Polak for saxophone and piano. Susan’s latest release is Strange Lights, a collaboration with Ināra Zandmane, out now on Neuma Records.  

Rahsaan Barber has set out on a singular path of musical excellence in performance, composition, education, and entrepreneurship. Rahsaan enjoys a career that encompasses an ever-expanding range of musical styles, including jazz, blues, funk, classical, fusion, soul, Latin, and world music. Rahsaan’s passionate, sincere, and studious approach to music-making has garnered professional appearances onstage alongside such heavyweights as Christian McBride, Brian Blade, the Temptations, Delfeayo Marsalis, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Duffy Jackson, Winard Harper, Kirk Franklin, Meghan Trainor and the Wooten Brothers. He has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious stages for music including The Ryman, The Village Vanguard, Birdland, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Rahsaan currently serves as Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Saxophone at the University of North Carolina. Rahsaan’s latest solo release is Eternal. 

Driven to create a musical bond with her listeners, saxophonist Heidi Radtke is attracted to the many musical traditions that claim the saxophone as their own. She is an active recitalist and collaborative musician currently serving as a Teaching Assistant Professor for saxophone and musicology courses at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Radtke can be heard as a soloist, tenor saxophonist with both the Iovi and Abele Saxophone Quartets, and with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, and Winston-Salem Symphony. Her debut album, Convergence, was released on Navona Records in March of 2024 and was praised by The Honest Broker as being “as fresh and free as horn music gets in the present moment.” The Global Music Awards honored the album with gold medals in the contemporary classical and instrumentalist categories along with its “Best of Show” designation, commenting that the “record and its innovative timbres are not to be missed.” 

Composer and saxophonist, Mark Engebretson, has taught composition and electronic music at UNCG since 2003 and recently spearheaded the creation of a major in Popular Music and Technology. His compositions pursue investigations into melody, virtuosity, and music/text relationships, along with a heavy dose of music technology. He continues to appear as a saxophone soloist performing his own compositions and with his band, The Difficulties, a collaboration that features poetry of Brian Lampkin in a mash-up with electronic music, saxophones, and percussion. His most recent albums include Mélange, a set of improvisations with Susan Fancher and Swedish percussionist Anders Åstrand, and The Difficulties debut album, These Are The Difficulties, due out October 5, 2026 and available on all streaming platforms. 

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