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Gregory Banaszak

Greg Banaszak, one of today’s leading saxophonists, has performed with orchestras and at concert halls throughout the world. He has appeared as concerto soloist and recitalist throughout the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including the countries of France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Egypt, South Korea, The Dominican Republic and Japan.

Mr. Banaszak is one of the most sought after orchestral saxophone soloists of his generation. As one of the few saxophonists active in both the classical and jazz mediums, Mr. Banaszak includes a combination of concerto performances, solo and chamber music recitals, and jazz festival appearances. He has presented recitals in such prestigious concert halls as Vienna’s Bösendorfer Concert Hall, the Royal Palace in Warsaw, Poland, and New York’s Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Hall. He has presented master classes at Austria’s Musik Hochschule, the Cairo Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory and the Tanglewood Institute. Mr. Banaszak was the first saxophone concerto soloist to appear with orchestras in both the Middle East and Korea, including performances with the Cairo Symphony and the Taegu City Symphony. Mr Banaszak has been under the baton of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Philippe Entremont and Randy Newman.

Mr. Banaszak’s most recent critically acclaimed CD’s, “Dou Concertos” and “Romances for Saxophone and Orchestra”, is both available on the Centaur Records label. The albums feature Romantic Saxophone concerti and neo – Romantic repertoire for alto saxophone, flute and Orchestra with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra and the Podlaise Philharmonic of Poland, conducted by Maestro Piotr Borkowski. He has also recorded on the Chanson, Hyperion and Open Loop labels.

Mr. Banaszak was recently appointed to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences as a voting member for the annual Grammy Awards ceremony.

He serves on the faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, CIM and Case Western Reserve University. He is a Vandoren Performing Artist, Selmer Saxophone clinician, and Rovner Products consultant, and endorses RS Berkeley instruments as well as Lawton mouthpieces, DeJacques Inc., Pro Tec and Oleg Products. He has performed as saxophonist for The Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Banaszak is a BM cum laude graduate of the Hartt School of Music. He holds a MM degree “with distinction” from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and an Artist Diploma from the Centre Musical d’Annecy in France. He cites his successful career on having studied with such prominent masters as Vincent Abato, Daniel Deffayet and jazz legend Jackie McLean, as well as David Pituch and David Schiavone.

Hailed as a Saxophonist “Tour de Force” by the New York Times, Mr. Banaszak is represented exclusively by Phoenix Classical Ltd. of Canada.

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