Crane School of Music Presents Concert Featuring Saxophonist Zach Shemon

SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music Offers Guest Artist Recital Featuring Zach Shemon, Saxophone, on March 24

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Saxophonist Zach Shemon will present a guest artist recital on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.

POTSDAM, NY (03/20/2015)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music will welcome guest artist Zach Shemon, saxophone, for a performance on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.

The performance will include works by James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Fernande Decruck, Luciano Berio, Barry Cockcroft, and Ian Dicke. Shemon will be joined by Crane faculty members David Heinick and Robert Young for this concert.

This event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

About the performer:

Zach Shemon is an assistant professor of saxophone at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and is the alto chair in the acclaimed PRISM Quartet. Additionally, he spends his summers serving on the music faculties at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Interlochen Saxophone Summer Institute. He previously served as an associate instructor of saxophone at Indiana University, where he is completing a performer diploma and a doctorate in music. Prior to his time at IU, he studied at the University of Michigan, receiving both a bachelor's and a master's degree in saxophone performance, in addition to a bachelor's degree in engineering. Shemon also studied at the Université Européenne de Saxophone in Gap, France, and at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he held the saxophone fellowship. His primary teachers are Donald Sinta and Otis Murphy.

Shemon's performance career has led to appearances around the globe as a soloist and chamber musician. Since joining the PRISM Quartet in 2007, the ensemble has recorded on the Albany, Innova, Naxos, New Dynamic and New Focus labels, and performed in many of the world's leading festivals for contemporary music, including the Bang on a Can Marathon, Beijing Modern Music Festival and the SONiC Festival. He has appeared with the quartet as a soloist alongside the Arizona State Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Cornell Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony and UMKC Conservatory Wind Symphony. PRISM has held residencies at music institutions around the world, including the Beijing Conservatory, Curtis Institute, Rice University and Tianjin Conservatory, among others.

As a soloist, Shemon was awarded first prize at the inaugural International Saxophone Symposium and Competition in Columbus, Ga., and was the winner of the Indiana University Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Indiana University Philharmonic and Michigan Philharmonic orchestras, as well as with the University of Michigan Concert and Symphony bands. Active in the saxophone community, he regularly performs at national and regional conferences held by the North American Saxophone Alliance. Performance highlights of 2013–14 include an appearance at Carnegie Hall with the PRISM Quartet, as well as performances at Kansas City's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, as a soloist and with the Kansas City Symphony. Shemon is a Conn-Selmer Artist and performs on Selmer (Paris) saxophones. He is also a D'Addario Performing Artist, performing on Reserve Classic reeds and aiding in product research and design.

For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution.

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