UNCSA Saxophone Day
Music Events
UNCSA Saxophone Day
Jan. 27, 2024
UNCSA is thrilled to host Saxophone Day, featuring the celebrated PRISM Quartet. Join us for a day of musical exploration and education. Saxophone students from all around are encouraged to come join us.
Delve into a diverse program curated by Dr. Robert Young, which includes a Saxophone Orchestra rehearsal, enlightening masterclasses, and an interactive jazz improvisation clinic by Prof. Steve Alford.
One of the highlights of the day will be the exclusive masterclass with PRISM Quartet, followed by a captivating Q&A session with Timothy McAllister, Taimur Sullivan, Matthew Levy and Zachary Shemon. The night will culminate with the PRISM Quartet Concert at 7:30 p.m.
Registration
Registration Fee Options
- Saxophone Day Registration only: $15
- Includes: particpation in Saxophone Day, lunch and two (2) complimentary tickets to evening PRISM Quartet concert valued at $40
- Saxophone Day Registration and t-shirt: $30
- Includes all above items plus commemorative t-shirt
- You must register by Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 in order to receive a t-shirt
Schedule
| 8 a.m. | Registration Opens: Watson Lobby |
| 8:30-9:30 a.m. | Saxophone Ensemble Reading |
| 10 a.m.-12 p.m. | Robert Young Masterclass |
| 12-1:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1-1:50 p.m. | Product Demonstration: Breathtaking (Taiki Azuma) |
| 2-3:30 p.m. | PRISM Quartet Masterclass |
| 3:30-4 p.m. | PRISM Quartet: Q&A |
| 4:15-5:15 p.m. | Jazz Improvisation Masterclass – Professor Steve Alford |
| 5:15-5:30 p.m. | Closing Remarks – Dr. Robert Young |
| 7:30 p.m. | Special Event: PRISM Quartet Concert |
Masterclasses
If you are interested in applying to perform in a masterclass for Dr. Robert Young or PRSIM Quartet, please read the information below.
To be considered to play in a masterclass, please submit an unedited video recording of no more than eight minutes in length from the last six months. Please submit as an unlisted YouTube link.
If you are chosen to play on the masterclass, the performance should not exceed eight minutes. Single movements or excerpts from larger works are acceptable. Performers that need a pianist may provide their own or use UNCSA Saxophone Day’s official pianist. Please keep in mind that rehearsals using an official pianist will be limited to one 30-45 minute meeting before the masterclass performance.
The deadline for masterclass submissions is Monday, January 8, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. To be fully considered, all applicants also must submit their registration fee by Monday, January 8, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.
To apply to perform in a masterclass at the UNCSA Saxophone Day please indicate your interest and follow the prompts in the registration form.
For any questions please contact Dr. Robert Young at youngr@uncsa.edu.
Robert Young
Robert Young has been acclaimed for his “effortless expression and a facile technique” and the “true mastery of his instrument” (The Saxophonist Magazine). Dr. Young maintains an active schedule as a soloist and educator including guest appearances at universities and colleges across the country.
His highlights include performances with the PRISM Quartet, The Crossing, Chris Potter, Ravi Coltrane, Uri Caine, Charlotte Symphony, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra and University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician Robert, as part of a collaboration with The Crossing, performed with the PRISM Quartet on the GRAMMY Award-winning album “Gavin Bryars: The Fifth Century” (available on ECM Recordings). As an active soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Young has been invited as a featured concerto soloist at the XVIII World Saxophone Congress (Zagreb, Croatia) and the 2020 North American Saxophone Alliance conference (Tempe, Arizona). In 2023 Young appeared as a concerto soloist with the United States Navy Band at the International Saxophone Symposium.
Robert holds a teaching position at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts as the Associate Professor of Saxophone. Dr. Young’s students have received honors at several local, regional and national competitions and they have been featured at several clinics and conferences throughout the country. He previously has served on the faculties of The Crane School of Music - SUNY Potsdam and Wichita State University.
Dr. Young earned his Doctor of Musical Arts (2010) and Master of Music (2008) degrees in saxophone performance from the University of Michigan where he studied with Professor Donald Sinta. At the University of Michigan, he studied jazz saxophone with Dr. Andrew Bishop and was a recipient of the Lawrence Teal Fellowship. Young received a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina (2006) in saxophone performance where he studied with Dr. Clifford Leaman.
Meet our Guest Artists
PRISM Quartet
Intriguing programs of great beauty and breadth have distinguished the PRISM Quartet as one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. “A bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times), PRISM has been presented by Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and throughout Latin America, China, and Russia under the auspices of USIA and USArtists International.
PRISM has also appeared as soloists with the Detroit Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, and conducted residencies at the nation’s leading conservatories, including the Curtis Institute and the Oberlin Conservatory. Two-time recipients of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, PRISM has commissioned over 300 works by eminent composers, including Pulitzer Prize-winners Julia Wolfe, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Zhou Long, and Bernard Rands; MacArthur “Genius” Award recipients Tyshawn Sorey, Bright Sheng, and Miguel Zenón; and US Artists Fellow Susie Ibarra.
PRISM’s discography is extensive, with releases on Albany, BCM&D, BMOP/Sound, ECM, innova, Koch International, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, Orange Mountain Music, and its own label, XAS Records. The Fifth Century, PRISM’s ECM recording with The Crossing, was awarded a 2018 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. In 2016, PRISM was named by its alma mater, the University of Michigan, as the first recipient of the Christopher Kendall Award in recognition of its work in “collaboration, entrepreneurship, and community engagement.” The PRISM Quartet performs exclusively on Selmer saxophones.
Meet Quartet Members
Timothy McAllister
Described as “a titan of contemporary music and the instrument, in general” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer), Timothy McAllister is Associate Professor of Saxophone at the University of Michigan, following professorships at Northwestern University, Arizona State University and SUNY-Potsdam.
With premieres of over 200 solo and chamber works, he has been presented by major symphonies, concert series, and music festivals worldwide. Recently featured with the Berlin Philharmonic, he has appeared with over forty of the world’s top orchestras and wind ensembles in fifteen countries. In 2013 he presented the world premiere of John Adams’ Saxophone Concerto with the composer conducting in the Sydney Opera House, and is only the second saxophonist to appear as soloist in the 120-year history of the BBC Symphony Proms concerts in Royal Albert Hall.
His recordings appear on the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, Stradivarius, Soundset, Centaur, Albany, Naxos, Equilibrium, New Focus, AUR, Summit, New Dynamic, Parma and Innova labels. He holds the distinguished Albert A. Stanley Medal, and multiple degrees from the University of Michigan. McAllister won a 2015 GRAMMY® Award (Best Orchestral Performance) with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as soloist on the album “John Adams: City Noir/Saxophone Concerto.”
Taimur Sullivan
Taimur Sullivan enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator.
His performances have taken him from the stages of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center
to engagements in Russia, Germany, and throughout Latin America. The New York Times
praised him as “outstanding…his melodies phrased as if this were an old and cherished
classic, his virtuosity supreme.”
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel wrote that Taimur is “talented, fearless and sensitive…the sounds he made were fully and deliciously drawn.” He appears on over twenty-five recordings for the New World, Mode, Albany, innova, Capstone, Mastersound, Bonk and Zuma labels, and has most recently recorded James Aikman’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone with Russia’s St. Petersburg Symphony.
In honor of his distinguished record of promoting and presenting new works for the saxophone, including over 150 premieres, Meet The Composer named him one of eight “Soloist Champions” in the U.S. Mr. Sullivan is Associate Professor of Saxophone at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music.
Matthew Levy
Matthew Levy has been hailed by The Saxophone Journal as “a complete virtuoso of the
tenor saxophone” and by The New York Times for his “energetic and enlivening” performances.
He is the recipient of a 2016 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, as well as composition fellowships
from the Independence Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He has
scored four motion pictures, including PBS’s Diary of a City Priest, featured at the
Sundance Film Festival.
His music is highlighted on four PRISM recordings, including People’s Emergency Center (Best Jazz of 2014, PopMatters). He has also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Tzadik, and Grammavision; collaborated with a host of choreographers/dance companies, among them Peter Sparling and Scrap; and appeared as a guest artist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dolce Suono, NNM Ensemble, and counter)induction.
He teaches saxophone at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania; serves as a Community Artist Program mentor at the Curtis Institute, and as a consultant for the Corzo Center at the University of the Arts. Levy holds three degrees from the University of Michigan, where he was a recipient of the Lawrence Teal Award.
Zachary Shemon
Zach Shemon is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Missouri – Kansas
City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Additionally, he serves on the music faculties
at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Interlochen Saxophone Summer Institute.
He holds degrees from the University of Michigan (B.M., B.S.E., M.M.) and Indiana University (Performer Diploma). He also studied at the Université Européenne de Saxophone in Gap, France and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he held the saxophone fellowship. His primary teachers are Donald Sinta and Otis Murphy.
As a soloist, Shemon was awarded 1st prize at the inaugural International Saxophone Symposium and Competition in Columbus, GA and was the winner of the Indiana University Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Indiana University Philharmonic and Michigan Philharmonic orchestras, as well as with the University of Michigan Concert and Symphony Bands. Shemon is a D’Addario performing artist, performing on Reserve Classic reeds and aiding in product research and design.
UNCSA Saxophone Studio
