The Emergence and Development of Classical Saxophone Repertoire in Costa Rica

Abstract

Costa Rican art composers have written a significant amount of music works for classical saxophone in the late 20th century, thus contributing to the development of a saxophone music repertoire in general. Their compositions, however, are little known outside of their musical circles due to the lack of music editions and the fact that they had been working most often in isolation. This document seeks to fill this lacuna by examining selected saxophone pieces by Benjamin Gutiérrez, Carlos Castro, Eddie Mora, and Marvin Camacho, as well as their influence as teachers and institutional administrators upon the development of a saxophone school and classical repertoire in Costa Rica.