"One of the highlights of the concert was Steve Stusek's haunting saxophone solo throughout the Old Castle." - Greensboro News and Record
Steve Stusek is Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where he is a member of the Eastwind Reed Quintet and the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet. With these groups he has toured China, Germany, Canada, and much of the US.
Originally from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he received his Bachelor’s degree in saxophone performance from Indiana University. Before beginning a Master’s degree in saxophone and chamber music at Arizona State University, he spent a year in Paris studying at the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire Nationale Superior de Musique de Paris) and the Conservatoire de le Région de Paris, where he was awarded the Prix d'Or à l'Unanimité in Saxophone Performance.
After living in the Netherlands for almost eight years he returned to Indiana University and was awarded a DMA in Saxophone in 2001. He has served on the faculties of Ball State University, Middlebury College, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and he was an Associate Instructor of saxophone at both Arizona State and Indiana University. He has been on the UNCG faculty since 1999.
As a soloist, Steve has appeared with the Eastern Music Festival and more recently with the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble as part of the North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference. He has been the principle saxophonist for the Eastern Music Festival and the Greensboro Symphony for the past ten years. In 2000, Stusek won the prestigious Dutch Chamber Music Competition as part of the saxophone-accordion duo 2Track with accordion virtuoso Otine van Erp. Subsequently they were given management for two years, performing widely throughout the Netherlands and on Dutch radio.
Steve's newest projects are a duo program with Swiss saxophonist Laurent Estoppey which incorporates electronics, video, dance, poetry and as many saxophones as they can get on stage in a seamless musical event, and the COLLAPPS Ensemble (Collective for Happy Sounds), dedicated to new and improvised music, dance, poetry, and video in unusual spaces.
Steve’s teachers have included Eugene Rousseau, Joseph Wytko, David Baker, Larry Teal, Daniel Deffayet, Jean-Yves Formeau, and Leroy Wolter.
Steve is a Past-President of the North American Saxophone Alliance. He is a Yamaha and Vandoren performing artist.