Thursday, June 12th

Canadian saxophonist Wallace Halladay captures the qualities of the modern virtuoso, being at home in numerous styles, from the traditional to jazz and beyond. A specialist in the performance of contemporary music, he has commissioned and premiered numerous works for saxophone. In addition to performances of concerti by Ibert, Schmitt, Glazunov, Denisov, Husa, Muldowney, Kancheli, Yoshimatsu, Scelsi and Donatoni, he has worked with composers Philippe Leroux, Michael Colgrass, Mauricio Kagel, Erik Ross and Scott Good on concerto premieres. Wallace inaugurated the Intersections Series with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in an entire concert of music for saxophone and orchestra entitled "The Story of the Saxophone." As soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Globe and Mail called him "phenomenal" and "so riveting…that not much can compete against it." Wallace takes pride in the symbiosis and chemistry that come with working with great composers; he has worked with Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, Vinko Globokar, Magnus Lindberg, Oliver Knussen, Marco Stroppa, Philippe Leroux, Toshio Hosokawa, and Salvatore Sciarrino. Wallace recorded the two saxophone Sequenzas of Berio and the Colgrass concerto for NAXOS and is in demand as a performer with new music groups across Canada and the US. Wallace holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, and studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Arno Bornkamp. He is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Toronto, where he directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble. Wallace was the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, remaining the only woodwind laureate in its history.

Wallace is a Conn-Selmer Artist and plays Selmer (Paris) saxophones.