‘Hassan’ for saxophone and tape by Tilen Lebar was submitted in June 2025 for the World New Music Days 2025 in Portugal by the ISCM Slovenian section and became a Young Composers Award candidate.

A month later, in July 2025, the piece ‘Hassan’ receives its Asian premiere at the World Saxophone Congress 2025 in Harbin, China.

Tilen Lebar about his piece:

Hassan is a composition that is more related to prose than poetry. The narrative way of developing musical material appears in the places where we expect it to be. For example, the “whistle tone” technique appears at first in the tape and later reveals itself in an acoustic form. Moreover, the prepared saxophone enables a quiet “unusual” expansion on natural spectral multiphonics, extremely introverted dynamics and a timbre that rarely appears within the contemporary repertoire for alto saxophone. The presence of the name Hassan itself constructs my social environment, as I live in a particular part of The Hague that is predominantly associated with the Moroccan community. This makes a connection that leads me to explore their cultural heritage and relationship within the community. The piece is dedicated to my long-time mentor and friend, Matjaž Drevenšek.