Greg Banaszak: Stage on Stage

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 and has served as Orchestral saxophonist for the leading opera orchestras of Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, and Cleveland. 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 critically acclaimed CDs, “Duo Concertos for Alto Saxophone, Flute, and Orchestra”, “Romances for Saxophone and Orchestra” and “Saxophone Concertos”, are available on the Centaur Records label. He has also recorded on the Chanson, DUX,Hyperion, MMO and Open Loop labels.

In 2009 Mr. Banaszak was the first saxophone soloist to appear at the 14th annual Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Polish Music Festival, performing with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra; he premiered two concertos dedicated to him by celebrated com¬poser Krzesimir Dębski. He was also the first saxo¬phone concerto soloist to perform and tour with the Berlin Opera Symphoniker Orchestra

As a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mr. Banaszak is a voting member for the annual Grammy Awards ceremony. He serves on the faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, 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 also performed as saxophonist for the Cleveland Orchestra.

Mr. Banaszak is a B.M. cum laude graduate of the Hartt School of Music. He holds a M.M. 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.

Mr. Banaszak performs exclusively on Vandoren products distributed in the North America by www.dansr.com.

Other professional affiliations:

Conn-Selmer http://www.conn-selmer.com
Rovner http://www.rovnerproducts.com
Oleg http://www.olegproducts.com
Dejacques http://www.dejacques.com
Protec http://www.protecmusic.com