Described by noted American composer Libby Larsen as "fearless on stage," saxophonist Stephen Page has garnered international prominence as one of today’s leading saxophonists. Dr. Page has concertized across five continents, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Canary Islands, and throughout the United States.

Well known for his interpretations of new and emerging repertoire for the instrument, Stephen has also gained acclaim for his innovative arrangements and performances of the violin repertoire, including works by Strauss, Grieg, Franck, Prokofiev, and Bach. He continues to further the advancement of the saxophone repertoire through the commissioning of new works from composers such as Viet Cuong, John Mackey, Ida Gotkovsky, David Lang, Alexandra Gardner, Gala Flagello, David Maslanka, Marc Mellits, and Martin Bresnick.

Stephen has earned prizes in more than ten international and national competitions, including the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist and Chamber Music Competitions, the North American Saxophone Alliance Solo and Quartet Competitions, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, and the AUREC Saxophone Competition, among many others.

As the Alto Saxophone chair of the critically acclaimed Zzyzx Quartet, Stephen has appeared internationally in venues both public and academic. Zzyzx has been featured in concert at meetings of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the World Saxophone Congress, along with extensive touring throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Zzyzx Quartet was selected to serve on the panel of the Barlow Endowment and was the dedicatee of the winner, Ben Hjertmann’s new work for saxophone quartet, "Awake, Alive, Amok, Ajar."

Dr. Page has released more than fifteen recordings as a soloist and chamber musician which can be heard on the Enharmonic, Teal Creek, Crystal Music, and AUR Labels. His recent recording of John Mackey’s Concerto will soon be released with PARMA, and a current project of works by Fazil Say, Miriama Young, and Yusef Lateef, will feature a dual release of both digital audio and cinematic video.

He has enjoyed significant collaboration as a Musicians Advisory Board member with D’Addario, serving as Artist and Consultant for JodyJazz/E.Rousseau Mouthpieces, and he has served as Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician for nearly twenty years. Dr. Page also serves as a board member for the Elise Hall Competition for Emerging Saxophonists and has been elected to the North American Saxophone Alliance Executive Committee.

Stephen Page currently serves as Associate Professor of Saxophone and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Butler School of Music within The University of Texas at Austin, where he has received the Teaching Excellence Award, the Foxworth Centennial Fellowship, and was one of twelve nominees campus-wide for the Blunk Memorial Professorship, the University’s most prestigious award for teaching and mentorship.

Liz Ames is a collaborative pianist who is passionate about performing and working with instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers. Her international appearances include performances in the UK, Spain, the 2012 World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland, the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, the 2008 Contemporary Music Festival in Lima, Peru, and at the 2011 and 2016 International Double Reed Society Conferences. Liz has served as piano coordinator and staff pianist at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conferences in Tempe, AZ, Urbana-Champagne, IL, and Lubbock,TX. While specializing in saxophone literature, Liz continues to pursue projects with a wide variety of instrumentalists and vocalists. She curated a series of concerts during the 2010-2011 season where she performed the entire collection of 114 Songs by Charles Ives with eight different singers in Phoenix, Arizona. Alongside her work as a performer, Liz is devoted to creating piano reductions using extended techniques. She has written several published reductions including Henry Brant’s Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, Peter Schickele’s Concerto for Simply Grand Piano, and multiple concertos and oratorios by Steven Bryant, Joel Puckett, Don Grantham, and John Mackey.

Liz completed her doctorate in collaborative piano at Arizona State University and is currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She performs with musicians throughout the Midwest and with her duo partner, two-time Grammy winning saxophonist, Timothy McAllister.

Gregory Wanamaker’s music has been called “pure gold, shot through with tenderness and grace” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “achingly beautiful” (Palm Beach Daily News).

Prolific in all musical media, Wanamaker’s best-known works are those that exploit unique timbral characteristics and technical extensions of wind instruments. His earliest musical training began at age 6 in professional summer stock theater companies and continued through both schooled and self-guided explorations through the American folk music of the 1960s, bebop and free jazz, and Western classical music of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He continues his study of sounds to those from around the world, drawing from a variety of music to inform his continually evolving voice.

Wanamaker has created works with the support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and other public and private organizations as well as through commissions from individual musicians and consortiums from around the world. He holds degrees in music composition from Shenandoah University and Florida State University and has studied with Anthony Branker, William Averitt, Thomas Albert, and Ladislav Kubík.

Gregory Wanamaker currently lives in Potsdam, New York where he serves as Professor of Composition at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

of Light and Shadows is a sonata in two very contrasting movements that reflect on the interactions between light and light’s shadow-creating obstructors.