Alastair Wright

British saxophone Alastair Wright is a contemporary soloist and chamber musician based in Kansas City. Classical Voice of North Carolina praised him for his “dulcet-like tone…with a luminescent sheen”. Alastair currently teaches applied saxophone at the University of Central Missouri. He is currently completing his doctorate at the University of Missouri Kansas City, where he serves as teaching assistant to Zach Shemon and teaches saxophone at the UMKC Community Music School. Alastair has received degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), where he studied with Taimur Sullivan and Naomi Sullivan respectively. Alastair also studied with Christopher Creviston at the Crane School of Music during an exchange semester. As a soloist, Alastair has performed with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (as finalist in the 5th Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition), UMKC Conservatory Choir, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, the UK-based Thallein Contemporary Ensemble and the Sutton Coldfield Orchestra. He has presented recitals of new music at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France, and in many Kansas City, North Carolina and UK venues. Recent and upcoming engagements include performances with the Sioux City Symphony, newEar Contemporary Ensemble and Mid America Freedom Band. In addition to being a finalist in the 5th JMLISC, Alastair has also seen success in the Rosen-Schaffel Concerto Competition, 11th International Music Festival of Padova, Italy and in several school competitions. Alastair is a founding member of Dasch Quartet and Trio Dionysus. With these groups, he has toured throughout the US and UK, and he has presented masterclasses at the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Brevard Music Center and Chicago College of Performing Arts. In 2014, Dasch placed first in the North American Saxophone Alliance National Quartet Competition, and Dasch and Dionysus were awarded first and second prizes respectively in the Enkor International Chamber Music Competition. Dionysus was a finalist in the 2016 Coltman Chamber Music Competition and the 2015 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. These groups have also performed at Northwestern University’s contemporary music conference, NUNC! 2, North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences and in 2015, Dionysus performed at Lincoln Center for Education. In 2016, Dasch released its album, Necessary Edges, featuring transcriptions of Romantic masterworks by Dvořák, Smetana and Puccini.