The Young Saxophonist's Institute
Summer Camps and Events
Dr. Timothy McAllister
Springwoods Village MS (June 9 - 13)
Today’s most celebrated classical saxophonist TIMOTHY McALLISTER is an acclaimed soloist, soprano chair of the GRAMMY® winning PRISM Quartet, and champion of contemporary music credited with over fifty recordings and two hundred premières of new compositions by eminent and emerging composers worldwide. McAllister has appeared with more than forty of the world's most prominent orchestras in over twenty countries, from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms. Following his premiere of John Adams’s Saxophone Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the composer, he performed the Concerto and Adam's City Noir on the 2015 GRAMMY® Award-winning recording with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson. His recent recordings of Kenneth Fuchs's Saxophone Concerto, Rush, with JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra and his reprise of City Noir with the Berlin Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel both appeared on 2019 GRAMMY® Nominated albums, with the Fuchs winning for “Best Classical Compendium.” Recent performances included the China Premiere of the Adams Saxophone Concerto with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Belgium Premiere of Guillaume Connesson's Saxophone Concerto: A Kind of Trane under Stéphane Denève and the Brussels Philharmonic, on the Deutsche Grammophon label. As guest soloist, other recent engagements include the symphonies of Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, St. Louis, among many others. In 2022, he premiered John Corigliano’s Triathlon: Concerto for Saxophonist and Orchestra with Giancarlo Guerrero and San Francisco Symphony to widespread acclaim. 2023 featured the U.S. Premiere of Tyshawn Sorey’s Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith) for alto saxophone and orchestra with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. A widely-respected teacher of his instrument, McAllister is Professor of Saxophone at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, and he appears at summer festivals and courses worldwide. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, having studied with legendary saxophonist, Donald Sinta.
Mr. Allen Cordingley
McKinney HS (June 9 - 13)
Allen Cordingley comes to us most recently from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where he currently serves as a Distinguished Lecturer in Saxophone and directs their Jazz Orchestra, among other duties.
Allen enjoys an eclectic career as a musician performing in a variety of styles on all the saxophones. He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where he teaches saxophone and directs the Pioneer Saxophone Ensemble, the Pioneer Jazz Orchestra, and the Pioneer Pep Band. As interim director of the UW-Platteville Jazz Festival from 2013-2018, Allen brought in guest artists like Marvin Stamm, Wycliffe Gordon, and Maria Schneider. He also created the Festival Big Band, which included distinguished alumni and local musicians to back up the guest artists.
Before joining the music faculty at University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the fall of 2006, Allen was on tour with the Glenn Miller Orchestra throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. He currently performs with the Paul Dietrich Jazz Ensemble and The Big Payback. As a concert saxophonist, he is currently principal saxophonist in the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra and Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. He is a founding member of Ensemble Nouveau, which toured in China in 2020.
Allen studied saxophone with Steven Jordheim and James Umble and holds degrees from Lawrence University and Youngstown State University.
Jenni Watson
YSI Commission Composer
With a predominantly Classical music foundation under a love of many wide-ranging genres, Jenni focusses on utilising such techniques as a means to tell emotive stories. Increasingly her works explore the marriage of her own acoustic multi-instrumental recordings with an exploration into electronic manipulation and found sound.
Although known for her works for Saxophone, other commissions have included writing for Choir, Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble.
Aside from composition commissions and writing music for screen, she performs with her duo partner Martin Jacoby (Piano) and as Tenor Saxophonist with the Kaleidoscope Saxophone Quartet.
She has a passion for committing her own personal creative projects to disc, most often in a multi-instrumental capacity.
The majority of her music is self-published, with some titles also available from Astute Music.
Dr. James Barger
Fort Worth (June 16 - 20)
James Barger is an active performer and educator, known for his dynamic presence on stage and in the classroom. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Saxophone at West Texas A&M University, where he teaches applied saxophone and jazz improvisation, directs Jazz Band II and the Saxophone Ensemble, and oversees the university’s spirited Pep Band, affectionately known as “The Band in the Box.”
Equally at home in classical and jazz settings, James is a sought-after soloist, chamber musician, and woodwind doubler. He has performed with the Amarillo Symphony, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, and Midland-Odessa Symphony and appeared in the pit for more than 20 musical theater productions,
including Les Misérables, Young Frankenstein, and Mary Poppins.
James is passionate about chamber music and is a founding member of the award-winning Mirasol Quartet. The group has earned top honors in prestigious competitions, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Gold Medal, Wind Division, 2015), the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition (Third Place, 2014), and the Enkor Chamber Music Competition (Grand Prize, 2016). Mirasol has performed at renowned events such as the Texas Music Educators Association Conference, the Midwest Clinic, and the North American Saxophone Alliance, in addition to presenting clinics and concerts nationwide to advocate for music education in public schools.
Dr. Bob Eason
S. Houston (June 9 - 13)
Hailed by Fanfare magazine for his “exceptional feel for elegance, wit… and tonal beauty,” Dr. Bob Eason is a saxophonist and educator.
Eason is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX where he teaches students of all backgrounds for careers in music. Eason has held previous academic appointments on the faculties of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, Murray State University in Murray, KY, and Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
Eason is the soprano saxophonist and a founding member of the Kenari Quartet, an ensemble that has garnered acclaim through engaging performances, festival and educational residencies, and commissioning projects. The Kenari Quartet is the first ensemble of its kind to have appeared on many prestigious concert series including Chamber Music Northwest, the Grand Tetons Music Festival, String Theory at the Hunter, and Chamber Music Tulsa. For their ten-year history of educational outreach work, the Kenari Quartet was named the 2023 recipient of the Ann Divine Educator Award and Arts Residency. In collaboration with the Naxos music label, the Kenari Quartet released the album French Saxophone Quartets, which contains many of the saxophone quartet’s most important compositions.
A native of Houston, TX, Eason founded the Young Saxophonist’s Institute and continues to teach summer camps in the Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth areas for middle school and high school saxophonists. The Young Saxophonist’s Institute is proud to have reached more than 1000 saxophonists since its beginning in 2007.
Eason completed his Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees at Indiana University, and he holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Houston. His primary teachers include Otis Murphy, Thomas Walsh, Dan Gelok, Valerie Vidal, Karen Wylie, Chris Patterson, and Theron Sharp.
Eason proudly performs on Yamaha saxophones.
