Internationally recognized as an ambitious contemporary saxophonist, Allison Balcetis has studied and collaborated with artists from around the world.  Her international performance career includes concerts in Italy, France, Thailand, Slovenia, North America, and Brazil.  Most recent collaborations include working with Brazilian composers André Mestre, André Ribeiro, Rodrigo Bussad, and Manuel Failleros to create a yearly workshop of young composers’ pieces, performing them in a professional context.  Other notable collaborations with composers include Georges Aperghis, Marcos Balter, Colin Labadie, Thierry Alla, and Henri Pousseur.

As a faculty member of the University of Alberta since 2009, Allison trains the next generation of thoughtful, artistic musicians.  Outside of the university, Allison helps develop the new music community as past Executive Member and Production Manager of New Music Edmonton and board member of the Borealis Electro Acoustic Music Society.

In 2007 Allison co-founded Anubis Quartet, a Chicago-based ensemble with more than 30 commissions and premieres of provocative new music, performing with them until 2014.  During her undergraduate degree, Allison won first place in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2005.  Her recent chamber activities include performing with New Music Edmonton’s in-house ensemble, Violet Collective, The Bent Note Ensemble - a saxophone and piano duo, The Damn Magpies - an improvisation chamber ensemble, and work with Edmontonian musicians and dance companies such as the Jen Mesch Dance Conspiracy and Mile Zero Dance.

While earning her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Alberta under the direction of Dr. William Street, Allison produced her first solo recording, Zeniths and Nadirs. She also holds degrees from Bowling Green State University where she studied with Dr. John Sampen, and is the first – and only – saxophonist to earn a joint degree from the Université de Bordeaux and the Conservatoire National de Région de Bordeaux where she studied with Marie-Bernadette Charrier.

I have premiered more than eighty works from multiple musical genres, from solo to opera, by composers from all over the world. Notable among these are the "Concertos" for baritone saxophone and orchestra by Albena Petrovic (Philharmonie de Luxembourg, June 2018) and Fernando Lerman (Teatre Fortuny de Reus, November 2024).

Throughout my solo (and also soloist) activity, I have been a member of several chamber music projects (I was a founding member of SAX 3+1 saxophone quartet, 1994-2013), contemporary music ensembles and other orchestral formations. In 2016, composer and sound artist Joan Bagés i Rubí and I created Morphosis Duo (baritone saxophone and electronics), the basic version of Morphosis Ensemble, a flexible collective of electroacoustic musicians with whom I closely collaborate. 

I have performed in Europe, America and Australasia in festivals such as Mixtur Barcelona, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Rc4 (Rio de Janeiro) and Classical:NEXT (Vienna and Hannover editions), presenting my diverse artistic projects, mainly focused on new music.

· “Without a doubt, all of this places Joan Martí-Frasquier as one of the references in the contemporary saxophone and new music” [Toda La Música, 2019]

Cited by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer who “has that rarest of inventive gifts, a personal voice,” Steven Burke is quickly being recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation. His music has won praise for its emotional power and mastery. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote “the writing has power..stinging emotions.” Paul Griffiths of the New York Times wrote, his work “might have been written by Brahms after hearing the Rite of Spring…highly accomplished…bursting with historical awareness and creative confidence.” Composer David Del Tredici, recognized as the father of the Neo-Romantic movement, has said on public radio “There are some wonderful composers who are emerging now and who will be voices of their generation. One is Steven Burke, a remarkable composer. Completely trusting of his instinct, who writes passionate, wild, and completely controlled music.”

Steven Burke began his musical studies with the trumpet at age seven. In college, he divided his time between music and science. He taught college chemistry as a sophomore and was involved with neurosurgery research at New York University Medical Center. Ironically, it was nerve damage that forced him to abandon trumpet and start composing. Once he started composing, he realized his passion and since age twenty has pursued composition exclusively. He went on to earn degrees from Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Yale University and Cornell University. He has studied with Jacob Druckman, Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra, Lukas Foss, Martin Bresnick and Chester Biscardi.

Mr. Burke’s recognition began during his student years at Cornell University with a commission from the Seattle Symphony and the ASCAP Foundation. The work, Clockwise, was commissioned in memory of his teacher Jacob Druckman, and was premiered by the Seattle Symphony under the direction of Gerard Schwarz on March 3, 1998. A few months later, the American Academy of Arts and Letters cited Mr. Burke for his “orchestral mastery.” Clockwise was then chosen by maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, for a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the orchestra of the University of Southern California, as part of the “Synergy” project.

Mr. Burke’s distinctive work has already been acknowledged by critics, and has also been singled out by many distinguished prizes and commissions including: the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, multiple fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Medway Institute, and an award from Meet the Composer. He was the first recipient of the Robbins Prize, and the White Flowers residency from Yaddo. He has received commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, the Jerome Foundation, the National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Sequitur, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and the Albany Symphony. He has also been commissioned by Yaddo and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to compose a work commemorating the centennial of Yaddo. He was also recently commissioned by the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and the Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel (Germany). Echo of Halos was premiered in Germany to critical and public acclaim. In December of 2006, Steven Burke was elected to the Board of Directors of Yaddo and awarded a commission from Meet the Composer. 

His music has recently been performed by such distinguished ensembles as: the Los Angeles Philharmonic,  the orchestra of the University of Southern California, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Jordan Winds of New England Conservatory. Mr. Burke’s song cycle, Songs from Bass Garden, was premiered by the Grammy Award-winning soprano, Susan Narucki and the Yale summer school of music.

Flute/saxophone duo based in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area.

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