Music faculty member wins international competition

Dan Graser, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Music and Dance, is emerging as one of the most active saxophone performers and educators of his generation. His saxophone quartet, the Donald Sinta Quartet, recently won First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition.

The award includes a management contract with Concert Artists Guild, $5,000, and a Carnegie Hall debut recital. The group was selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants for the competition, held October 22 in New York.

The quartet will give two performances at Grand Valley as part of the Guest Artist Series, December 6 and 7 at 8 p.m., in the Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus. They will also conduct a Master Class in the same location on Saturday, December 7, from 2-3 p.m. All events are open to the public with free admission. For more information, contact the Department of Music and Dance at (616) 331-3484.
 
Prior to coming to Grand Valley in 2013, Graser held teaching positions at Oakland University, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts, and the Expressions Music Academy. A recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, he served as teaching assistant to legendary saxophone pedagogue, Donald Sinta. Graser also received a master’s degree from U of M and completed his undergraduate studies in both performance and music history/theory at the Crane School of Music as a student of saxophone virtuoso Timothy McAllister. 

Since forming in 2010, the DSQ has achieved international renown for its recitals, concerto performances, and championing of cutting-edge new repertoire. Active on the competition circuit, DSQ has also received the Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the 2013 Coleman International Chamber Competition, as well as First Prize at the North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition. Recent performances include recitals in Scotland and Greece, and at the Paris Conservatory, Versailles Conservatory, Selmer Paris Showroom, and Shanghai Conservatory.