BRIAN KACHUR

Brian Kachur is an active performing artist and music educator originally from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. He is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Saxophone Performance at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of internationally-acclaimed saxophonist Timothy McAllister. Brian has studied at the University of Michigan since 2017 when he began his Bachelor’s Degree in Saxophone Performance, graduating with University Honors in 2021. Brian has performed with many ensembles at the University of Michigan, including the Symphony Band, Digital Music Ensemble, Contemporary Directions Ensemble, and Saxophone Ensemble. He has performed alongside notable soloists and featured ensembles including PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Sinta Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, William Lucas, and Amy Porter. As a jazz musician, Brian has performed with the One More Once Big Band based in New Jersey, as well as the University of Michigan Jazz Lab Ensemble. With these ensembles, he has performed alongside notable jazz musicians including Ignacio Berroa, Pete McGuiness, and Slide Hampton. As an orchestral musician, Brian has performed with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and performs regularly with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra in Battle Creek, MI.

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Brian has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at various music festivals, including the Great Plains Saxophone Workshop at the University of Oklahoma, and the Arosa Music Academy in Arosa, Switzerland. He has participated in masterclasses for multiple artists and ensembles internationally, including Steven Banks, Dan Graser, Hans de Jong Jeffery Heisler, Geoff Landman, Lars Mlekusch, Joseph Murphy, Stephen Page, Donald Sinta, Christian Wirth, as well as the award-winning ensembles Sinta Quartet and Aizuri Quartet. Most recently, Brian was named the Winner of the 2022 University of Michigan Concerto Competition in the Graduate Division for his performance of Steven Bryant’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, which he performed under the baton of Michael Haithcock and the University of Michigan Symphony Band in September of 2022. Brian was also named a Semi-Finalist in the 2020 North American Saxophone Alliance Collegiate Solo Competition, and was awarded Second Prize in the 2017 New Jersey Wind Symphony Youth Soloist Competition.

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As a chamber musician, Brian has earned recognition with multiple ensembles, serving currently as the baritone saxophonist for Aero Quartet. Formed at the University of Michigan in 2020, Aero Quartet has garnered numerous accolades in the past two years, including First Prize in the University of Michigan Briggs Chamber Music Competition at the University of Michigan, the NOLA ChamberFest Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition. The group also was most notably named Gold Medal Winners in the Wind Division of the 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, which culminated in their debut tour of the Midwest in September 2021. Aero Quartet has performed for audiences at multiple universities including Thiel College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Notre Dame University. Aero also presented a feature recital program which was broadcast live on Classical 98.7 WFMT in Chicago. Aero Quartet has commissioned and given world premieres by various composers including Gala Flagello, Arun Luthra, and Jennifer Higdon. Aero Quartet has also recently collaborated with saxophonist and konnakol artist Arun Luthra of The New School in NYC. In the summer of 2021, Aero participated in the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, which is a private, fully-funded program that allows musicians a place to retreat and hone their craft in a beautiful, secluded area of Southern New Hampshire. Apart from performing, Aero Quartet makes it their mission to spread their love of chamber music through educational outreach, which they have done through residencies and presentations at public schools and universities throughout the midwest.

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Brian is a member of the Invictus Duo, which focuses on performing contemporary works for saxophone duo, as well as promoting and commissioning works by emerging young composers. Along with duo partner Philip Kleutgens, Invictus presented a recital and masterclass at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, and also collaborated on a performance proposal at the 2020 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference in Tempe, Arizona. The Invictus Duo has organized two major composition consortiums, which culminated in the World Premieres of Looking for Soprano and Baritone Saxophone by Jeremy Howell, and Powerhouse for Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, and Piano by Karalyn Schubring. Most recently, Invictus has premiered the live version of throughway by Evan Courtney, which features two soprano saxophones and a mixed ensemble of synths, percussion instruments, and found objects. Invictus plans to premiere their newest commissioned work, Duo for Soprano and Alto Saxophone by Andrew Mead, in 2023.

 

In addition to performing, Brian is a passionate educator and teaches private students both in-person in Michigan, and virtually across the country. His private students have had much success in making placement into honor ensembles, top music festivals in the United States, and even undergraduate Conservatory music programs. Brian is currently a saxophone and clarinet instructor atWest Bloomfield High School in West Bloomfield, MI, and was also on faculty at the 2018 West Milford Concert Band Academy in West Milford, NJ.

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