In 1985, five secondary-school students invented a new musical genre: the reed quintet, a groundbreaking combination of oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon. Later as Calefax, they set the stage and took the world by storm. Over 70 reed quintets have since followed in their footsteps, and are now united through reedquintet.net. Today, Calefax is an established presence in the musical landscape. Their limitless curiosity and open presentation inevitably turn every performance into an exciting journey through styles, eras, and genres.
‘Calefax – five extremely gifted Dutch gents who almost made the reed quintet seem the best musical format on the planet.’
– The Times –
As pioneers, these wind players have had to create their own repertoire, by arranging existing works and commissioning new ones. The arrangements, almost all by members of the group, now number almost a thousand and span eight centuries of musical history.
The sheet music for the most popular arrangements is published under the label Calefax Edition, to make it available for other reed quintets. This constantly expanding library contains works from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Baroque, as well as Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, twentieth-century music and contemporary works. Calefax also runs a composition competition, that receives dozens of entries annually.
The Calefax story begins in 1985, when Barlaeus grammar school in Amsterdam staged an opera by contemporary Dutch composer Willem van Manen. Four members of the young orchestra were brazen enough to ask him for an original composition, and to their surprise, he obliged: a work for two saxophones, bassoon, oboe, and – Van Manen’s own addition – a clarinet.
One year later, after some experimentation with the exact instrumentation, all the pieces fell into place: they had found the perfect combination of oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon. These five reed instruments blend to form a unique timbre, capable of breathing new life into a broad spectrum of music from Bach to Duke Ellington, and from Debussy to Nina Simone.
Youthful elan coupled with boundless curiosity are still what drives this five-man ensemble. While initially stemming from their pioneering role, as the reed quintet has slowly become an established phenomenon, their enthusiasm is now channelled into developing balanced programmes and engaging in a variety of collaborations – musical adventures, leading consistently to new repertoire and refreshing performances. These include collaborations with fellow musicians (such as pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, The United States Air Force Band and violinist Liza Ferschtman), as well as projects with artists from other disciplines, such as cabaret performer Paulien Cornelisse and inventor Theo Janssen and his ‘Strandbeests’.
Inspired by Calefax, over eighty reed quintets have now been formed worldwide, from Argentina to Japan. They are united via the International Reed Quintet Network, of which Calefax is the founder and ambassador. Calefax aids these groups by publishing sheet music, organising workshops and masterclasses, and maintaining a public online platform: reedquintet.net.
The Calefax discography numbers 22 CDs and 2 DVDs, released by Pentatone in the Netherlands, MDG in Germany, and via their own label, Rioja Records. Without exception, they have received universal acclaim by both the Dutch and international press.
The album Organisms (2025), with which Calefax explores the majestic and mysterious essence of the organ – without an organ in sight, received four stars from the Dutch daily paper Trouw. They reported: “Reed instruments become organ pipes.”
On An American Rhapsody, Dutch daily paper NRC reported: ‘The beauty and fascination of the Calefax arrangements consists in their originality (…) not the faithful translation and imitation of the original, but rather the addition of something new, the tasting and discovery of new flavours in familiar music.’
Calefax has won several major Dutch music awards, including the Philip Morris Art Prize, the Kersjes van de Groenekan Prize, the VSCD Classical Music Award, and Germany’s Junge Ohren Prize for family musical performances.
Calefax performs in all the world’s major concert halls and chamber venues, from the Herbst Theater in San Francisco and Wigmore Hall in London, to its own Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The group has travelled to the United States, China, India, Turkey, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, New Zealand, and almost all European countries, and in 2013 accompanied Queen Beatrix on her final two state visits, to Brunei and Singapore.
Calefax is keenly aware of its impact on the environment and the need for sustainable entrepreneurship. The group aims to limit air travel as much as possible, and to journey overland within Europe. Unavoidable flights are mitigated by a self-imposed environmental tax totalling 35% of the ticket price, which is donated to climate and carbon-compensation projects.