Timothy McAllister

  • Associate Professor, Saxophone, Bienen School of Music

Co-director, Institute for New Music. Hailed as a “master of his instrument” (Audiophile Audition) known for “flamboyant” and “riveting” performances (Los Angeles Times), “evocative and bravura playing” (The Classical Review), “virtuoso artistry” (The Saxophone Symposium), “impeccable musicianship” (American Record Guide), “warmth and agility” (The Sacramento Bee) and “beautifully rounded tone” (The Ann Arbor News), Timothy McAllister is one of America’s premier concert saxophone performers and a champion of contemporary music. His solo, orchestral, and chamber music recordings appear on the Naxos, Albany, Summit, Equilibrium, Centaur, OMM, G.I.A. Publications, New Focus, AUR, New Dynamic and Innova labels. He has been featured multiple times on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, Dutch National Radio, BBC, WQXR-NYC, WNYC, and various PBS affiliates throughout the U.S. Credited with over 150 premieres of new works by eminent and emerging composers worldwide, his work is highlighted in the recent Deutsche Grammophon DVD release of the world premiere of John Adams’ City Noir, filmed as part of Gustavo Dudamel’s inaugural concert as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

McAllister has been a recent soloist with the Albany Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, Texas Festival Orchestra at Round Top, Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, United States Navy Band, Dallas Wind Symphony, Tokyo Wind Symphony, South Carolina Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Ocean City Pops (NJ), Augusta Symphony, Nashville Symphony and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, among others. He has appeared as guest saxophonist in the wind sections of the Toronto Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony, New World Symphony and Opera Colorado. In 2010, he toured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic including performances in San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York City’s Lincoln Center. In 2013 he will give the World Premiere of John Adams’ Saxophone Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer in the Sydney Opera House.

Since 2001 he has appeared frequently on major chamber music series nationwide as soprano saxophonist of the PRISM Quartet, including repeat performances each season in venues such as New York City’s Merkin Hall, Whitney Museum, Miller Theater, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Symphony Space, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Museum of Art, Trinity Center, World Café Live, PNC Bank/PresserRecital Hall at the Settlement School, and the Painted Bride Arts Center. Prior to joining PRISM in 2001, he was awarded the coveted Grand Prize from the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition with the Ninth Circle Saxophone Quartet, the first group of its kind to ever receive this honor.

He previously held professorships at Arizona State University, The State University of New York-Potsdam, and the University of Arizona, alongside visiting positions at the University of Michigan School of Music and residencies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris, among other elite institutions. Additionally, he spends his summers as distinguished Valade Fellow at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and other degrees in music education, conducting and performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied saxophone with Donald Sinta and conducting with H. Robert Reynolds. He is the only saxophonist to ever receive the UM School of Music’s most distinguished performance award—the Albert A.Stanley Medal—and he was honored in 2002 with the Paul C. Boylan Award from the School of Music Alumni Society for his significant contributions to the field of music. Other teachers include John Sampen, Chester Rowell, Don LeFevre and Ralph Burton.