Douglas O'Connor
Associate Lecturer, Saxophone
Doctoral Candidate, Eastman School of Music
Douglas O'Connor
252 Haas Fine Arts Center
Music & Theatre Arts Department
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004
Phone: 715/836-2473
Email: oconnodh@uwec.edu
Praised for his "seamless technique" and "sumptuous lyricism" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), saxophonist Doug O’Connor has performed across Europe and the U.S., including appearances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. He recently appeared at the XV World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, where he gave the world-première performance of Christian Lauba’s 15th etude, Worksong; in addition, he was recently featured with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra performing the world-première of Baljinder Sekhon's saxophone concerto, The Offering. Also as a soloist, Mr. O'Connor has been featured with the National Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, Musica Nova, and the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Actively working with a variety of composers, he is a firm advocate of both new and traditional repertoire.
Mr. O’Connor was the Second Prize winner of the 2nd International Jean-Marie Londeix Saxophone Competition in Bangkok. In addition, he has won top prizes in many other solo competitions, including the NASA Classical Solo Competition, the MTNA Young Artist Woodwind Competition, the 2004 National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloists Competition, and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra's Mary Graham Lasley competition. Finally, he is a winner of Astral Artists’ 2003 National Auditions.
With a passion for chamber music, Mr. O'Connor is a founding member of the Red Line Saxophone Quartet, which won grand prizes at the Chesapeake, Coleman, NASA, and MTNA chamber music competitions, as well as divisional gold medals at the Fischoff and Plowman chamber competitions. While he played soprano saxophone for the ensemble, Red Line performed most of their concerts by heart, premiered five new works for sax quartet and electronics in NYC, and released a CD on iTunes, Back Burner.
Doug O’Connor holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Saxophone Performance from the University of Maryland, where he was music director and conductor of its Philharmonia Ensemble chamber orchestra. He earned a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he is currently finishing a doctoral degree while serving as Associate Lecturer of Saxophone at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire.
