Stacy Wilson

Born in 1981, Stacy Wilson grew up in North Carolina and began playing the saxophone at the age of 13. She is currently a saxophonist with the West Point Concert Band and Saxophone Quartet in New York. While pursuing the Doctor of Music degree in Saxophone Performance and Literature (in progress), Stacy was an Associate Instructor of Saxophone at Indiana University Bloomington from 2003-2008. She 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 world-renowned saxophonists Otis Murphy and Steve Stusek.

Stacy has participated in numerous competitions from regional to international levels. As a member of the Outer Banks Duo with pianist David Hughes, she won 3rd Prize in the Gaudeaumus International Interpreters Competition in Amsterdam, one of the premier competitions for contemporary music in the world. In 2008, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition held at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand and was selected as the 1st prize winner in 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), prizes in the Indiana University Travel Grant Competition (2007) and winner of both the Indiana University Woodwind Concerto Competition and the UNCG Annual Concerto Competition.Stacy is the soprano saxophonist with the Zzyzx Quartet which recently won 2nd Prize in the North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition and was selected as a semi-finalist in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition. ZSQ has premiered new works by Indiana University composition students and has commissioned new music by established and emerging young composers. Zzyzx has performed at the NASA Biennial Conference, Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium and was a featured guest artist at the MidWest Composer's Symposium and Miami of Ohio University. For more information and upcoming performances, please visit www.zzyzxquartet.com.

In 2006, Stacy won a Recording Grant Competition that will enable her to record her debut solo CD in 2008. This recording will be distributed on the Emeritus recording label and will include works by Florent Schmitt, Ida Gotkovsky, Christian Lauba, Sy Brandon and Edison Denisov. It is scheduled to be released in 2010. 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 and 4th 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 performer on a recital at the Hessenbrukenmuhle performing Christian Lauba’s "Steady Study on the Boogie" in 2006 and "Nachtgesang" by Max Bruch in 2008.

Aside from her frequent performances of traditional and transcribed works for the saxophone, Stacy is an advocate of new music. She frequently takes part in premiers and has commissioned several new works from talented young composers, Brian Buch, Erik Norman and Jonathan Sokol, to name a few. She has performed guest artist recitals at the Music at St. Paul’s Concert Series in Michigan, Western Kentucky University, North Carolina School of the Arts and the Carolina Saxophone Symposium and has taught masterclasses throughout the midwest and North Carolina. Stacy is a member of the North American Saxophone Alliance and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at NASA Biennial Conferences.