Andrew Allen

Andrew J. Allen has been lauded as “a master of all sizes of saxophone,” by The Instrumentalist, while The Saxophonist has hailed his "virtuosic saxophone performance,” and The Saxophone Symposium has cited his “complete control of the instrument.” As a concerto soloist, Allen has appeared with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, along with numerous academic ensembles, and he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Croatia as a soloist and chamber musician. He has premiered more than two dozen works from such composers as François Rossé, Robert Lemay, Fang Man, Jesse Jones, Greg Simon, and Jay Batzner. Allen’srecordings include Step Inside: New American Music for Saxophone and Percussion and The Avenging Spirit, both on the Equilibrium label, and he is a featured soloist on Spring Shadows: Electronic Solo Works by Anne Neikirk on Ravello Records.

As an ensemble musician, Allen has performed with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the Bryan Symphony, the Midland Symphony, Symphony Orchestra Augusta, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Present chamber ensemble activities include the percussion and saxophone group Rogue Two (with Gordon Hicken), the flute and saxophone ensemble The Allen Duo (with Elise Naber Allen), and the Palmetto Saxophone Quartet. Equally adept as a jazz and commercial musician, Allen has served as a sideman with a diverse variety of artists including R&B luminaries The Temptations, and country music legend Ronnie Milsap.

Allen is one of the most active historians and public pedagogues of the saxophone today. His writings have appeared in The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, The Saxophone Symposium, College Music Symposium, The NACWPI Journal, JazzEd, and School Band and Orchestra. His transcriptions and arrangements are available through Dorn Publications and Lovebird Music. Allen has presented clinics across the country, including at the state music education conventions of Georgia, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas. He has givenmasterclasses at some of the most prestigious schools of music in the United States, including Duquesne University, Emory University, Shenandoah Conservatory, and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, among many others. He is assistant editor of The Saxophone Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of The North American Saxophone Alliance.

Andrew J. Allen is Associate Professor of Saxophone, Coordinator of Winds & Percussion, and Coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts in Music at Georgia College & State University, and he serves as President-Elect of the North American Saxophone Alliance. His previous academic appointments include positions at Midwestern State University, Valley City State University, and Claflin University. His students have performed at national and regional conferences of The North American Saxophone Alliance, the American Single Reed Summit, and at the state music education association conventions of Georgia and Texas.

Allen holds degrees from Tennessee Technological University, Central Michigan University, and the University of South Carolina. His primary teachers include Phil Barham, John Nichol, and Clifford Leaman, and he has received additional instruction from Joseph Lulloff at the Brevard Music Center; Claude Delangle, Vincent David, and Arno Bornkamp at the European University of Saxophone; and Christine Rall at the Rascher Saxophone Quartet Workshop. Allen is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician, a Vandoren Performing Artist, and a Key Leaves Endorsing Artist, and he performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and Vandoren mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures.

AllenSax.com