John-Edward Kelly

• Born — 7 October 1958 • Birthplace — Fairfield, California, US • Died — 12 February 2015 • Place of death — Vero Beach, Florida • Occupation — * Saxophonist • Conductor • Years Active — 1981–2015 • Organizations — * Arcos Orchestra • Raschèr Saxophone Quartet • Alloys Ensemble • The Kelly Quartet

Born in Fairfield, California, Kelly began music studies in Belleville, Illinois studying clarinet, saxophone, flute and voice. Kelly focused on his passion for the saxophone as he began formal music studies at Florida State University's College of Music. He desired to resurrect the original tone and range of the saxophone as intended by its inventor, Adolphe Sax. His teachers included Sigurd Raschèr. After Florida State, He had a 30-year international career as a classical saxophonist.

• In 1981 Kelly took Sigurd Raschèr's place as alto saxophonist in the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. He performed regularly with the quartet for ten years. • In 1994 Kelly founded the Alloys Ensemble (saxophone, cello, piano & percussion). • From 1996 to 2003 he was a professor of contemporary chamber music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. • He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1999. • From 2000 to 2005 he was professor of saxophone and contemporary chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. • In 2004 he founded the Kelly Quartet. • In 2005 he co-founded (with violinist Elissa Cassini) the Arcos Orchestra, an ensemble with a focus on unfamiliar orchestral repertoire. • In 2005, he performed with the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series. He lectured and served as a guest professor in such cities as London, The Hague, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Helsinki, Rochester, Stuttgart, Lyon, and Oslo. He published articles on aesthetics, contemporary music and the saxophone, including a pamphlet titled "The Acoustics of the Saxophone from a Phenomenological Perspective". He also gave a series of lectures titled 'The Art of Listening'. Kelly gave the first performances of more than 200 works for saxophone, including 30 concertos for saxophone and orchestra. His performing repertoire consisted primarily of works written expressly for him. In 1995 he played the world premiere of Dimitri Terzakis's saxophone concerto, which was broadcast live to 27 nations. Other composers who have written works for Kelly include: Samuel Adler, Kalevi Aho, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Jürg Baur, Erik Bergman, David Blake, John Boda, Thomas Böttger, Herbert Callhoff, Michael Denhoff, Violeta Dinescu, Brian Elias, Anders Eliasson, Werner Wolf Glaser, Sampo Haapamäki, Ingvar Karkoff, Maurice Karkoff, Tristan Keuris, Hans Kox, Nicola LeFanu, Otmar Mácha, Tera de Marez-Oyens, Miklós Maros, Gérard Masson, Roland Leistner-Mayer, Krzysztof Meyer, Gráinne Mulvey, Pehr-Henrik Nordgren, Enrique Raxach, Uros Rojko, Jan Sandström, Sven-David Sandström, Leif Segerstam, Manfred Stahnke, Dimitri Terzakis, Stefan Thomas, Friedrich Voss, and Iannis Xenakis.

Kelly met his wife Kristin, a physician, at a concert in Germany. The couple married in 2003. They had 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter. He was a licensed airplane pilot and flight instructor.