DESCRIPTION:
Dan Graser, soprano saxophone Zach Stern, alto saxophone
Joe Girard, tenor saxophone Danny Hawthorne-Foss, baritone saxophone

The Donald Sinta Quartet, First Prize Winner of the 2013 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, has earned praise from audiences and critics alike for its committed performances, recordings, and distinctive repertoire. Other competition successes include the Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the 2013 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and First Prize in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition.

The DSQ was featured for the world premiere performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom's Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Band, joining the University of Michigan Symphony Band as a soloist for a tour through China and Los Angeles. Performances took place at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Shanghai Conservatory. The quartet's subsequent recording of the work garnered praise: Audiophile Audition declared them "superb musicians" and American Record Guide called it "the highlight of the album."

Upcoming engagements include festival appearances at Music from Angel Fire and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, recitals at St. Bonaventure University and Market Square Concerts, and a concerto performance with the Dallas Wind Symphony. Recent highlights abroad are recitals in St. Andrews, Scotland, where the group was featured at the 16th World Saxophone Congress, and in Paris, France and Thessaloniki, Greece.

The Quartet's repertoire is diverse, ranging from commissions by today's emerging composers to standards from the saxophone quartet literature to transcriptions by master composers such as Dvorak, Schubert, and Shostakovich. As advocates of new music, the DSQ commissions and premieres new works regularly and runs the National Saxophone Quartet Composition Competition, which selects two new quartet works from up-and-coming composers annually.

The group is named for its mentor, legendary University of Michigan Saxophone Professor Donald Sinta. The DSQ 's members are Selmer-Paris Artists and perform on Selmer Paris Saxophones.

*Footage courtesy of University of Michigan School of Music

www.donaldsintaquartet.com
www.concertartists.com