Zach Stern is currently pursuing a master\'s degree in Saxophone Performance at the University of Michigan. In December 2011, he graduated with highest honors from the University of Michigan, having earned a bachelor\'s degree in Saxophone Performance with Teacher Certification. He is the recipient of the Laurence Teal Scholarship Award. As a soloist, he won the 2013 University of Michigan Concerto Competition, as well as 2nd Prize in the Winds Division of the 2010 Young Texas Artists Music Competition. Zach regularly performs with the UM Symphony Band, and has also performed with the UM Jazz Lab Ensemble and Jazz Combos.
An active chamber musician, Zach has accrued numerous accolades with various chamber groups. As the alto saxophonist of the Donald Sinta Quartet, he won the Alice Coleman Grand Prize in the 2013 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the First Prize in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition. The DSQ has also become a well-traveled ensemble. They were soloists with the UM Symphony Band during its 2011 China Tour on William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Band, and they performed recitals at the 2012 World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland, and the 2012 International Society for Music Education (ISME) Conference in Thessalonika, Greece. Most recently, the DSQ gave recitals in Paris, France at the Selmer-Paris Showroom, and the Versailles and Paris Conservatories. Prior to his tenure with the DSQ, he was the alto saxophonist with the Yersinia Saxophone Quartet, which won the Silver Medal at the 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Third Prize at the 2010 North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition. YSQ was also featured as a soloist with the University of Michigan Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Rodney Dorsey, performing Scott McAllister\'s X2. Zach is also a founding member of The Moanin\' Frogs, which is a saxophone sextet that specializes in ragtime and vaudeville music. In addition, the Frogs frequently perform classical, popular, and jazz music. Zach is also an arranger, and enjoys arranging music for both the Moanin\' Frogs and the DSQ.
Committed as a teacher, Zach maintains a private saxophone studio of his own. He is also the Graduate Student Instructor for the UM Saxophone Studio and the Saxophone Instructor at Expressions Music Academy in Novi, Michigan.
Zach currently studies with Professor Donald Sinta, and previously has studied with Dr. Scott Plugge.