Aruna Quartet

September 25, 2019, 12:15 pm

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Texas Tech University’s award winning Aruna Saxophone Quartet joins us live for this Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert broadcast with works by Grieg and Glazunov and contemporary works by David Maslanka and Marcelo Zarvos.

Aruna Quartet
William Pyle, soprano saxophone
Tony Guzman, alto saxophone
Ryan Hill, tenor saxophone
Andrew Schoen, baritone saxophone

Comprised of undergraduate and graduate students at Texas Tech University, the Aruna Quartet is a prizewinner in national and international competitions including the MTNA National Competition, the Coltman Competition, The American Prize, and the ENKOR competition. Most recently, in May 2019, Aruna was awarded the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the 46th Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

In addition to their competition performances, the Aruna Quartet regularly performs recitals at universities, public schools and conferences including those held by the North American Saxophone Alliance and the Texas Music Educators Association. This past summer, Aruna was invited to perform and teach at the 2019 Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy, which was held at Rangsit University in Bangkok, Thailand.

At Texas Tech University, the quartet is coached by Professor of Saxophone, David Dees. They received additional instruction by legendary saxophone pedagogue Frederick L. Hemke at the 2018 Snow Pond Music Festival in Sydney, Maine.

Since forming at Texas Tech University in the Fall of 2015, the Aruna Quartet has performed a wide range of traditional and contemporary repertoire.  The quartet is now actively commissioning and arranging music, presenting educational clinics, and performing on tours throughout the United States and Europe.

Biography courtesy of IMF Chicago.

*On-demand audio featured on this site may have been edited in order to comply with U.S. copyright regulations.

  • Canzona variée from Saxophone Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 109, by Alexander Glazunov