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West Point Saxophone Quartet
The West Point Saxophone Quartet is comprised of members of the United States Military Academy Concert Band saxophone section. In addition to maintaining an active schedule of school and community performances, the West Point Saxophone Quartet regularly appears at national and regional conferences of note, as performers and clinicians. The West Point Saxophone Quartet has appeared in a number of high profile and significant venues, including major universities throughout the country. Performances have included collaborations with the UNCG Wind Ensemble, the Long Island Symphonic Winds and the Virginia Wind Symphony. The quartet has also appeared as featured performers on the prestigious Barge Music Series. Well-versed in historically significant saxophone quartet repertoire, the group focuses on a repertoire of modern music. Recently, the West Point Saxophone Quartet has presented the music of monumental twentieth century composers, performing Iannis Xenakis’ XAS at the 2007 Midwest Clinic and Gyorgy Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles at the 2008 NASA Biennial Conference at the University of South Carolina. In 2002, the West Point Saxophone Quartet released its first compact disc, Fault Lines. This recording features standard saxophone quartet repertoire as well as premiere recordings of compositions by Perry Goldstein, David Kechley and David Froom as well as original arrangements by Mark Vinci and Joseph Abramo. The recording was well-received and garnered much positive press for the quartet. The West Point Saxophone Quartet followed this compact disc with the premiere recording of Perry Goldstein’s Abundant Air: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Band on the USMA Band’s 2005 compact disc Should This Be Found. MASTER SERGEANT WAYNE TICE is the Concert Band's principal saxophonist, section leader and a frequent soloist with the United States Military Academy Band. Since joining the band in 1995, he has performed extensively at home and abroad. In October 2004, MSG Tice traveled to Beijing to become the first American saxophone soloist to perform with the People's Liberation Army Band, the only state-level professional military band in the Chinese Republic. Other international performances that featured Tice as a soloist include the 2003 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference in Jonkoping, Sweden and the 12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal at which he performed the world premiere of David Kechley's award-winning Restless Birds Before the Dark Moon. As the soprano saxophonist with the West Point Saxophone Quartet, Tice also premiered Perry Goldstein's Abundant Air. This saxophone concerto was commissioned by the USMA Band, dedicated to the West Point Saxophone Quartet and performed at the 2004 Biennial North American Saxophone Alliance conference. Tice has also performed with the Virginia Wind Symphony, the Long Island Symphonic Winds and the Berkshire Symphony, and has given performances at Bargemusic, the New England Saxophone Symposium, the 13th World Saxophone Congress and the Asparagus Valley New Music Festival. MSG Tice can be heard performing soprano and alto saxophones on the compact disc Fault Lines with the West Point Saxophone Quartet and also on his debut solo CD, Wayne Tice Plays the Music of Yusef Lateef. MSG Tice earned his bachelor’s degree in music from Old Dominion University and a Master of Music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His saxophone teachers include Dennis Zeisler, Lynn Klock and Yusef Lateef. SERGEANT FIRST CLASS BRIAN BROELMANN has been a member of the United States Military Academy band since 2001. He holds degrees in music education and music performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where he studied with Dr. Timothy Mcallister. SFC Broelmann has appeared both as a soloist and in chamber settings at numerous professional conferences throughout the country. Recent projects include performing with New York City cabaret sensation Jenna Esposito. SFC Broelmann appears on her debut compact disc recording 13 Men and Me! In addition to his duties as saxophonist, SFC Broelmann frequently performs with the United States Military Academy Concert Band on plucked strings, including guitar, banjo and mandolin. SERGEANT FIRST CLASS CHRISTOPHER RETTIE is a native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University in Saxophone Performance with a minor in Wind Conducting. Additionally, he holds a Masters Degree from LSU and a Bachelor’s Degree from Murray State University, both in Saxophone Performance. His primary teachers and mentors include Griffin Campbell, Frank Wickes, Scott Erickson, and Dennis Johnson. Chris has been a member of the West Point Saxophone Quartet since his arrival to the band in 2001 and is also a co-founder of the award-winning Red Stick Saxophone Quartet. As both a soloist and a chamber musician, he has performed in recitals and concerts and given masterclasses throughout the country. His performances of world and American premieres include works by Paul Hayden, Jacob Ter Veldhuis, Perry Goldstein, Stephen David Beck, and Dinos Constantinides. Additionally, Chris has been a featured performer with the United States Military Academy Band, University of North Carolina-Greensboro Wind Ensemble, Long Island Symphonic Winds, Virginia Wind Symphony, Louisiana Sinfonietta, Louisiana State University Wind Ensemble, Louisiana State University Orchestra, and the Murray State University Wind Ensemble. His recordings can be heard on the West Point, Louisiana State University, New Tertian, and Caliente labels. Chris’ other musical interests include frequent conducting of chamber ensembles from the USMA band in repertoire from the harmoniemusik era to the present day. In addition, he is the instructor of saxophone, clarinet, and woodwind ensemble at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. STAFF SERGEANT STACY WILSON, originally from North Carolina, served as Associate Instructor of Saxophone at Indiana University Bloomington while pursuing the Doctor of Music degree in Saxophone Performance and Literature. Stacy earned the Master of Music in Saxophone Performance from Indiana University as a recipient of IU’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate, the institution’s highest honor for instrumental performers, and also holds the B.M. in Saxophone Performance degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Stacy has studied primarily with Otis Murphy, Steve Stusek and Virginia-Novine Whittaker but has also had the opportunity to study with saxophonists Arno Bornkamp and Vincent David. Stacy has won prizes in numerous competitions from regional to international levels. Most recently, she was selected as a semi-finalist in the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition held in Bangkok, Thailand, and was the First Prize winner of the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Instrumental Competition. Stacy became the first saxophonist to win First Prize in the William C. Byrd International Young Artist Competition held in March of 2005. As a winner of this competition, she had her professional solo debut as a concerto soloist with the Flint Symphony Orchestra in Michigan performing Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. Additionally, Stacy received First Prize in the prestigious MTNA National Collegiate Artist Woodwind Performance Competition in 2003 by a unanimous decision by the judging panel, Third Prize in the North American Saxophone Alliance Young Artist Classical Competition (2004), First Prize in the Indiana University Travel Grant Competition (2007), and winner of both the Indiana University Woodwind Concerto Competition and the UNCG Annual Concerto Competition. In 2007, Stacy won a Recording Grant Competition that will enable her to release her debut solo CD in 2009. This recording will be distributed on the Emeritus recording label and will include works by Florent Schmitt, Ida Gotkovsky, Sy Brandon, Christian Lauba, and Edison Denisov. She has also recorded for award-winning composer Don Freund, in a video project aimed to assist composers and students in writing idiomatically for the saxophone. In 2006 and 2008, Stacy traveled to Laubach, Germany to participate in the 2nd International Masterclass for Classical Saxophone as a scholarship recipient to study with world-renowned saxophonists Arno Bornkamp and Vincent David. As a participant in the masterclass, Stacy was a featured soloist on a recital at the Hessenbrukenmuhle performing Christian Lauba’s Steady Study on the Boogie in 2006 and Max Bruch’s Nachtgesang in 2008. An advocate of new music, Stacy frequently takes part in premiers and has commissioned several new works from talented young composers. She has performed guest artist recitals and presented masterclasses at the Music at St. Paul’s Concert Series in Michigan, Western Kentucky University, North Carolina School of the Arts, Elon University, and the Carolina Saxophone Symposium.
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