Saxophonist Timothy McAllister is hailed as “one of the foremost saxophonists of his generation” by The New York Times. He has premiered over 250 works, and has been presented by major symphonies, concert series, and music festivals worldwide.

Composers who have written concerti dedicated to McAllister include John Adams, John Corigliano, Kenneth Fuchs, Adolphus Hailstork, Jennifer Higdon, Pierre Jalbert, and Tyshawn Sorey, with upcoming commissions by Steven Mackey, Viet Cuong, James Lee III, and Errollyn Wallen. He has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues including London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

This season’s highlights include McAllister’s debut with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Slatkin, performing John Corigliano’s Triathlon. McAllister premiered Triathlon with the San Francisco Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero and can be heard on the world premiere recording of the work with the Nashville Symphony, to be released by NAXOS.

Previous recordings with JoAnn Falletta include the GRAMMY Award-winning album featuring McAllister as soloist on Fuchs’ Rush with the London Symphony, and Paul Creston’s Saxophone Concerto with the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic.

World premieres performed by McAllister include Tyshawn Sorey’s Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith), which received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Music. McAllister, who has a long history of collaborations with the MacArthur Fellowship Award-winning composer, performed the world premiere of Adagio at the Lucerne Festival in 2022 and the American premiere with the Atlanta Symphony in 2023. He also gave the world premiere of John Adams’ Saxophone Concerto with the Sydney Symphony under the baton of the composer in the Sydney Opera House. He is the soloist on the world premiere and GRAMMY-winning recording of the concerto and City Noir with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony. Other engagements with Adams’ Saxophone Concerto have included the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he was only the second saxophonist to appear as soloist in the 120-year history of the Proms in Royal Albert Hall.

Recent performances include the Spain and Belgium premieres of Guillaume Connesson’s concerto A Kind of Trane led by Stéphane Denève, recorded with the Brussels Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon. Other notable solo appearances include the Detroit, Galicia, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, Royal Liverpool, Milwaukee, São Paulo, and Mineria (Mexico) symphony orchestras.

His multifaceted discography of over 50 albums has been recognized by Mark Stryker of Detroit Free Press as “the top classical saxophone recordings in the industry.”

In great demand as an orchestral saxophonist, he frequently performs in the wind sections of the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, with career highlights including his appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Gustavo Dudamel’s inaugural gala concert performing the world premiere of John Adams’ major work, City Noir. His reprisal of Adams’ City Noir with the Berlin Philharmonic and Dudamel appears on the composer’s GRAMMY-nominated anthology.

McAllister is a member of the PRISM Quartet. PRISM has been presented by Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and throughout Latin America, China, and as soloists with the Detroit Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra. Recipient of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, PRISM has commissioned over 300 works by eminent composers, and The Fifth Century, PRISM’s recording with The Crossing, was awarded a GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance.

McAllister’s interest in expanding the saxophone repertoire led to Project Encore, a collaboration with pianist Liz Ames which commissions miniature works for saxophone and piano. Alongside the duo’s efforts to weave an array of influences into their playing, from modernism to minimalism or popular idioms including Latin, jazz, funk, and musical theater, their upcoming Project Encore, Vol. 2 showcases composers including Wynton Marsalis and Jennifer Higdon.

A dedicated teacher, McAllister is Professor of Saxophone at the University of Michigan and faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Adolphus Hailstork received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger, and at Howard University with Mark Fax.

Dr. Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera. His second and third symphonies were recorded by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra (David Lockington) and were released by NAXOS. Another NAXOS recording, An American Port of Call (Virginia Symphony Orchestra), was released in spring 2012. His most recent recording is Piano Concerto No. 1 on NAXOS (2023), conducted by JoAnn Falletta.

Dr. Hailstork’s recent pieces include The World Called (based on Rita Dove’s poem, Testimonial), a work for soprano, chorus and orchestra commissioned by the Oratorio Society of Virginia (premiered in May 2018), and Still Holding On (February 2019), an orchestral work commissioned and premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The latter became the first movement of his Symphony No. 4, premiered by the Mannes School of Music on March 8, 2023.

Other new works recently receiving notable first performances are A Knee on the Neck (a George Floyd Requiem), Blest be the Day (a Juneteenth Overture) premiered by the Baltimore Symphony, and Piano Concerto No. 2 commissioned by Lara Downes.

In 2023, Dr. Hailstork was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.