Todd Goranson

Dr. Todd Goranson is Professor of Saxophone and Bassoon at Messiah University, having served previously on the faculties of Texas A&M University-Commerce and Frostburg State University. He holds the DMA degree from West Virginia University, and performance degrees from the University of Idaho. Lauded by Fanfare Magazine as “an agile and characterful soloist”, Goranson has enjoyed a performance career playing saxophone and bassoon in a wide variety of settings and genres. In addition to his own performing groups, he has appeared in concert with a diverse list of artists including Ray Charles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Johnny Mathis, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and performed extensively with the Billy Price Band. His orchestral bassoon credits include twenty professional orchestras in the US, China, and Mexico, and his saxophone enagements include performances with the Utah Symphony, Dallas Wind Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Plano Symphony, Philadelphia Wind Symphony, and many others. A founding member of Junction Saxophone Quartet, Triforia Winds and Trio Atlantis, Goranson has given recital performances and/or clinics at numerous conservatories, universities, and schools throughout the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, Canada, the UK,Thailand, Malaysia, China, and Sweden. Dr. Goranson has presented lectures on musician's mental health (performance anxiety) and musculoskeletal injury prevention at universities and conferences throughout the United States. Goranson recently completed an Associate of Science Degree in Registered Nursing to advance his mission in musicians’ mental/musculoskeletal health. Dr. Goranson’s major teachers for saxophone include Robert W. Miller, Curtis Johnson and Barry Bergstrom, with additional studies with Andy Wen. Goranson can be heard on his new saxophone CD release Cantilena on the Mark Masters label. Dr. Goranson is an artist/endorser for Yanagisawa Saxophones (Conn Selmer, Inc.), and is a Vandoren Paris Artist-Clinician.