Saxophonist Dr. Adam Pelandini is an active performer, clinician and music educator based in the Pacific Northwest. Formerly an active performer in Boston, MA, his recent engagements include performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he worked with conductors Andris Nelsons, Robert Spano, Leonidis Kavakos and Stéphane Denève in Boston’s historic Symphony Hall and the Tanglewood Music Center’s Koussevitsky Music Shed. While performing with the BSO, his playing was described as “sensitive,” with “tonal richness” and “pinpoint tuning” by The Boston Musical Intelligencer. The Boston Globe described his playing as “Sinuous” after a February, 2015 performance of Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde in Symphony Hall. Other recent performances include the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MA), the Monadnock Festival (NH), the Portland Symphony Orchestra (ME) and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (MA) working with a multitude of conductors including Gil Rose, Gunther Schuller, David Loebel and Benjamin Zander. During the Summers of 2011 and 2012, he was invited to perform with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Lenox, MA where he worked with conductors Stephan Asbury and Miguel Harth-Bedoya performing staples of the orchestral saxophone repertoire and chamber music. He has also recently performed with the Alea III New Music Ensemble, Acoustic Uproar, The Stone in New York City and ChagallPAC with saxophonists Jean-Michel Goury, Pierre-Stephan Mouget and Serge Bertocchi.
As a soloist, Adam has performed in numerous recitals and masterclasses across the United States. He recently was a featured soloist with the Mid-Columbia Symphony Orchestra in Richland, WA performing the Concerto in E-flat major for Alto Saxophone by Alexander Glazounov. He was also a soloist with the Central Washington University Symphonic Wind Ensemble performing David Maslanka’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone with his friend and mentor Professor Larry Gookin on the podium in his well-received retirement concert in May, 2015. As a member of the Seattle Wind Symphony for their 2014 - 2015 concert season, he performed as soloist on numerous concerts performing Hell’s Gate by David Maslanka and Tribute to Rudy Wiedoeft by Gunther Schuller. He was a featured performer at the North American Saxophone Alliance regional conferences in Bellingham, WA (2015) performing world premiers of new works by Greg Bartholomew and Matthew Pelandini. Other NASA performances include region 8 conferences in Salem, MA (2013) and the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY (2011). In November, 2012 he was invited to give a recital and masterclass at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. A proponent of new music, Adam has collaborated with renowned composers including Gunther Schuller, Michael Gandolfi, Lei Liang, Matti Kovler, James Yannatos, Matthew Kaner and many others. He has also participated in several World Premier performances including most recently: Ketty Nez’s Thresholds for Piano and Wind Ensemble as principal alto saxophone with the Boston University Wind Ensemble.
As a teacher, Adam is a newly-appointed adjunct professor of applied saxophone at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. With CWU’s Symphonic Wind Enesmble, he was invited to perform as soloist and give masterclasses to students for the 2015 Canadian Cantando Festival in Whistler, BC. As a graduate student, he worked as a teaching assistant at Boston University during the 2012-2013 school year, and previously taught at Central Washington University as an undergraduate student. Adam holds degrees from the Boston University College of Fine Arts (DMA), the New England Conservatory of Music (MM) where he graduated with academic honors and was a recipient of the George Frederick Jewett Memorial Scholarship, and Central Washington University (BM). His principle teachers include Kenneth Radnofsky and Joseph Brooks, and has worked with legendary saxophonists Otis Murphy, Eugene Rousseau, Theodore Kerkezos and Claude Delangle of Paris, France in a variety of masterclasses and clinics.