[Review: ” CSO end year literally with a bang”] “The Prokofiev benefitted from distinguished solo playing by Chris Martin on cornet, Michael Henoch on oboe and uncredited guest players Lorna McGhee on flute and the great Timothy McAllister on tenor saxophone.”
John Von Rhein
Chicago Tribute (12/19/14)
“Higdon’s Soprano Sax Concerto began and ended in a pastoral mood (a la Copland’s Clarinet Concerto) and featured smooth, sweet and virtuosic playing by Timothy McAllister.”
Scott MacClelland
Metro Santa Cruz
“A tremendous saxophonist, McAllister played with great strength, bright tone, and excellent intonation—including the altissimo register—on all his horns…in the end Corigliano’s ‘Triathlon’ brought the house down in cheers for soloist, orchestra, and composer.”
George Grella
New York Classical Review (6/5/22)
“No doubt this disc will be much studied and admired by saxophonists and certainly deserves hearing among a still wider audience…remarkably good and thought provoking”
Robert McColley
Fanfare Magazine - Review of Visions
“…the music is dramatic and colorful, requiring all sorts of novel saxophone sounds…high level of musicality in the playing…the musicianship of Duo Nuova is impeccable. McAllister’s tone is creamy, and his fingering and tonguing are impressive.”
Stephen Max
American Record Guide
“McAllister was phenomenal, giving a dazzling performance that rocked the audience to its feet for a prolonged and well-deserved ovation”
Sarah Bryan Miller
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Oct 2013)
“Chambers’ Come Down Heavy! …a tour de force that tested the upper sonic limits in wild and woolly playing by Timothy McAllister on alto sax…”
John Fleming
St. Petersburg Times
“Timothy McAllister gave intense, intelligent performances…mournful [and] exuberant…”
Bruce Hodges
S&H International Concert Review - MusicWeb (UK)
“McAllister shone in the virtuosic concerto, navigating the perilous runs and figures with ease while keeping a high level of technical proficiency. His musicality was the high point of the performance, especially in the opening movement where Dahl eschewed a steady beat and rhythm, leaving the soloist to push forward the musical line. The final movement was a whirlwind of fingers, but each note and phrase was perfectly placed.”
John Norine, Jr.
Theater Jones: Arts News in North Texas
“Timothy McAllister is both an agile soloist, easily surmounting any technical hurdles, and an expressive, communicative musician able to plumb the depths or scale the heights of these contemporary composers’ inspirations. His fellow musicians are equally accomplished; these renditions are finely honed collaborations between talented peers.”
R. Schulslaper
FANFARE Magazine
“Mead’s melodies are angular and supple, and McAllister renders them with a lyrical modern touch. Steady Study on the Boogie…is a fascinating piece, and McAllister plays it beautifully.”
Steve Hicken
American Record Guide - Review of Scena
“the audience was left breathless by the astonishing virtuosity of Timothy McAllister”
Bertrand Hainaut
DIAPASON (France) (1/4/2018)
“McAllister precisely conveyed the mood of every stylistic alley into which Bolcom peered. His saxophone delivered dialogue, as well as notes, as he brought his own experiences to Bolcom’s hodgepodge of a musical canvas…the arrangement of John Williams’ Catch Me If You Can score gives plenty of opportunity to display his technical wizardry and dynamic control.”
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs
Critic, Theater Jones: Arts News in North Texas
“Your record [SCENA] is exceptional and the interpretation of Steady Study on the Boogie is maybe the best I have ever heard…Thank you for playing and teaching my music so brilliantly!”
Christian Lauba
Award-winning French composer
“Dudamel led a bracing, propulsive performance with instrumental lines clear even in Adams’ most riotous contrapuntal moments. The L.A. Phil members covered themselves in glory with outstanding contributions…especially, Timothy McAllister’s evocative and bravura alto sax playing.”
Lawrence A. Johnson
The Classical Review
“Knockout performances by this high-energy ensemble…in this high-end audiophile recording supervised by many of the composers.”
Imagination 97
Imagination ‘97
“Timothy McAllister delivers unusually pure and sweet tone”
Joshua Rosenblum
Opera News (February 2019)
“John Adams said he wouldn’t wish [that alto saxophone solo] on anyone, but Timothy McAllister dispatching it with wonderful grace on this world premiere evening.”
Fred Child
Commentary from American Public Media/Performance Today’s coverage of Gustavo Dudamel’s Inaugural Concert with the LA Phil
“World-renowned saxophonist Timothy McAllister’s brilliant, crowd-pleasing performance was equal parts rock-star swagger and supremely polished musicianship”
Leonidas Lagrimas
The Buffalo News (12/8/2019)
[Review: “Albany Symphony, Cheng and McAllister in top form”]
To finish the evening, John Corigliano’s “Triathlon for Saxophonist and Orchestra” would be hard to beat. With Grammy-winning saxophonist Timothy McAllister as the star, the piece is not only a tour de force for the saxophone but also for the orchestra…the overall effect was buoyant, bold, funky, and very in-your-face confident…as they say in jazz terms, he wailed on the part with great energy and Miller and the gang followed suit.”
Timothy McAllister has signed with one of the most respected firms for world-class fine arts music programming, Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd., which represents award-winning soloists, chamber ensembles, conductors and special projects. He joins a roster filled with leading names in the classical industry including guitarist Jason Vieaux, the Fry Street Quartet, violinist Mark Kaplan, conductor Michael Butterman, pianist Christopher Taylor, clarinetist Igor Begelman, among many others!
Very excited to share this news! It is a dream to premiere a new work for saxophone and orchestra by composer/performer and MacArthur Fellow TYSHAWN SOREY at the historic Lucerne Festival with Elena Schwarz in August 2022! The work is co-commissioned by the Lucerne Festival and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as part of New Music USA’s “Amplifying Voices.” The US Premiere with ASO is set for March 2023 with conductor Stephen Mulligan.
Click on links in “Performances” for concert information!
On April 19th, tune in to www.kdfc.com at 11pm PDT/8pm EDT (3:00GMT) for the San Francisco Symphony Tuesday night broadcasts to hear the April 9 world premiere performance of John Corigliano’s concerto, “Triathlon for Saxophonist and Orchestra” under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero! Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle called the piece “a 30-minute extravaganza,” with McAllister giving “the piece the knockout performance it deserved, full of rhythmic agility and dynamic power.”
Ann Arbor, Michigan -
After a bit of uncertainty following its cancellation during the COVID-19 Pandemic, official word has arrived of American icon, GRAMMY, PULITZER, and ACADEMY AWARD winning composer JOHN CORIGLIANO’s new saxophone concerto, entitled TRIATHLON, to be premiered April 7-9, 2022 with the incredible San Francisco Symphony and GRAMMY-winning conductor Giancarlo Guerrerro!
The work features the soprano, alto and baritone saxophones across three movements, entitled “Leaps”, “Lines”, and “Licks”, respectively. This nearly half-hour work explores the full potential of each of the saxophones, and tasks the soloist to perform enormous feats highlighting the intensely acrobatic, yet deeply vocal, nature of the saxophone. This is the composer’s first solo work for the instrument, and his tenth concerto for solo instrument and orchestra, overall.
NEW STUFF cooking from composers Hannah Kendall, Marcos Balter, Flannery Cunningham, Arturo O’Farrill, Michael Gordon, Melissa Aldana, Martin Bresnick, Juri Seo, Bright Sheng, Roberto Sierra, George Lewis, Jungyoon Wie, James Aikman; plus recordings of music by Susie Ibarra, Tyshawn Sorey, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Potter, Nina C. Young, Joe Lovano, Emily Cooley, Terell Stafford, & Robert Capanna.
Chad “Sir Wick” Hughes (b.1977)
S.L.I.C.E. (2017) -World Premiere- 4’16”
Andrés Eloy Rodríguez (b.1970)
Diptych for a Lockdown, Op. 28 (2020) -World Premiere- 6’27”
I. Evocation
II. Aldemareado
For more information on Karalyn Schubring, please visit http://www.karalynschubring.com
For more information on Chad “Sir Wick” Hughes, please visit http://www.sirwickmusic.com
For more information on Andrés Eloy Rodríguez, please visit http://www.andreseloyrodriguez.com.ve
Timothy McAllister joined Maestro Thomas Wilkins with the superb Buffalo Philharmonic this past weekend, showcasing two different saxophone concertos on the same program across two evenings. The Buffalo News critic Leonidas Lagrimas’ full review can be found HERE.
(Excerpt)
“World-renowned saxophonist Timothy McAllister’s brilliant, crowd-pleasing performance was equal parts rock-star swagger and supremely polished musicianship.
Following the full-blast intensity and crowd-pleasing pyrotechnics of “Rush,” the more restrained tone and mellower lyricism of Aleksandr Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto came across as somewhat anticlimactic (the program’s first half would have been far more effective if the Fuchs and Glazunov were reversed). Nevertheless, McAllister’s refined performance was as good as saxophone playing gets, a masterclass in phrasing and another reminder of this instrument’s full dramatic and musical range.”
Deutsche Grammophon and the Brussels Philharmonic will release their recording of new orchestral works by Guillaume Connesson, including his stunning saxophone concerto ‘A Kind of Trane’ with soloist Timothy McAllister. Look for it in March 2019!
Tim’s 2019-2020 Season includes featured and debut solo appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Seattle Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, as well as return engagements with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Click on ‘Performances’ for more details.
Timothy McAllister is featured on two different albums that are nominated as finalists in the classical category for the coveted “BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM.” His performance of Kenneth Fuchs’s Saxophone Concerto “Rush” with the London Symphony Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, cond., appears on the NAXOS album “Spirtualist” featuring four concertos by Kenneth Fuchs, and he appears as saxophone soloist in John Adams’s “City Noir” with the Berlin Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel on the box-set anthology “John Adams Edition.”
More information on the Fuchs album can be found HERE
More information on the “John Adams Edition” can be found HERE
August 10th marked the release of my recording on the Naxos label of Kenneth Fuchs’s Saxophone Concerto ‘RUSH’ with the London Symphony Orchestra and Maestra JoAnn Falletta. Almost a year to the date when this was recorded in historic Abbey Road Studios, it was indescribable standing in front of that legendary ensemble. My deepest thanks to all involved! Here is the link to the preview video
Look for it now on iTunes and other major outlets. Thanks for listening!
I’m very excited to announce upcoming recording projects with three of the world’s top orchestras to be released during 2017/2018 year!
City Noir - John Adams (recorded June 2017)
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Berlin Philharmonic 4-CD Box Set and DVD anthology of the music of John Adams
Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings (NOW AVAILABLE)
Rush (Saxophone Concerto) - Kenneth Fuchs (Released August 10, 2018)
JoAnn Falletta, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
NAXOS Records (NOW AVAILABLE)
Saxophone Concerto “A Kind of Trane” - Guillaume Connesson (recording March 2018)
Stephane Deneve, conductor
Brussels Philharmonic
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
I hope you will be able to check these out! More info to come as release dates are finalized. Stay tuned!
What an honor to be part of this Nonesuch album that took home the 2015 GRAMMY Award for Best Orchestral Performance! An amazing tribute to the musicians and staff at the St. Louis Symphony who helped make it all happen. I am thrilled to reprise the Saxophone Concerto in January 2016 with the orchestra in St. Louis and on a week-long, Grammy celebration California Tour! Stay posted for more information!
I was thrilled when I learned the album, “John Adams: City Noir,” with the St. Louis Symphony and David Robertson received two Grammy nominations for “Best Orchestral Performance” and “Best Engineered Album.” The album has also been featured on several year-end lists for top recordings of 2014, including the Detroit Free Press, San Jose Mercury News, Rhapsody and National Public Radio, as well as by independent critic’s lists nationwide. It is incredible to see such attention for an album largely featuring the saxophone and new music, and I am so honored to have been a part of it.
September has been quite a life-changing month so far. I settled into my life in Ann Arbor, performed in a dream collaboration perhaps on the classical world’s biggest stage in Royal Albert Hall, and helped organize an emotional and inspiring tribute recital honoring the career and life of my predecessor and mentor at the University of Michigan, Donald Sinta. However, this week something struck me equally as deeply in my experience with the Utah Wind Symphony on September 23 in Salt Lake City. Only four years old, this group of professional freelancers and educators gave a rousing performance of John Mackey’s Soprano Sax Concerto with me to an audience of nearly 1100 people as part of a ‘send-off’ preview concert for the upcoming Midwest Clinic in Chicago (Dec. 20).
What struck me wasn’t simply the commitment to the level of playing, but the sheer dedication to the cause of wind band music and the deep sense of community. Led by Scott Hagen, director of bands at the University of Utah, and his wife and clarinetist, Myroslava Hagen, this group in four years has managed to achieve a level and following that rivals our nation’s military bands and other successful civic models such as the Dallas Wind Symphony, Northshore Concert Band, Lone Star Wind Orchestra, among many others. Yet, under this veneer, I learned that recently the group lost its primary financial support which now threatens the existence of the ensemble. Such disheartening news for such an amazing group of people and musicians. Amidst all the financial struggles we see with today’s major orchestras, news like this can be even more hurtful since a group like UWS comes together for the love of playing and the celebration of a very under appreciated literature, concert band music.
Band music isn’t simply trivial or purely pedagogical. It is a viable, ever-growing field of which many of today’s greatest composers have explored. More importantly, it often serves as the cultural center of most grade schools and college campuses. When we witness the rise of such an ensemble like the UWS, it helps a musician/teacher like myself remember WHY we got into music in the first place. The music. The camaraderie. The mission. These are not musicians looking for a hefty paycheck, accolades in the city’s major newspaper, or to rival the local symphony orchestra or opera company. They are performing together because they believe in the medium and the spirit of collaboration.
A vibrant community like Salt Lake deserves a successful ensemble like this to flourish for many years to come. They are not alone, as most cities/towns have some form of a community band, either amateur or professional. Get out to support these groups and their mission. It is the extension of a great American genre that never retreated after it’s rise in the late Nineteenth century.
Godspeed to the Utah Wind Symphony, and see you in the Windy City!
Welcome to my new website! New to the site are downloads for presenters, a news blog, and a press page entirely devoted to the John Adams Saxophone Concerto. I hope you will enjoy the functionality of the site and many of the new pics from the photography studio of RRJONES. Look for more updates in the days ahead as final tweaks are made, but in the meantime, take a listen to the clips, note any upcoming performances in your area, and add your name to my mailing list for updates and news. I am very grateful to Joe Dakroub for his design and assistance!
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