Meet Our Judging Panel 2026
Judge
Dr. Steven Banks
Hailed by the Washington Post as “the saxophone’s best friend, fiercest advocate and primary virtuoso in the classical realm,” performer and composer Steven Banks strives to bring his instrument to the heart of the classical world. He commissions and writes music that expands the repertoire for saxophone, introducing audiences to new possibilities for artistic expression. Banks is a devoted and intentional supporter of diverse voices in the future of classical music. His work on stage and on the page prompted Seen and Heard International to write, “Banks has the potential to be one of the transformational musicians of the 21st century.”
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This season Banks will bring his “charismatic confidence, technical flawlessness, adventurous phrasing, [and] unbelievably sweet tones’’ (Seen and Heard) to debut performances with the St. Louis, Indianapolis, Oregon, and Montréal symphony orchestras. In Europe, he makes debut appearances with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, BBC Symphony at the Barbican, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In recent seasons, he has made impressive debuts and built lasting relationships with the Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Utah, San Diego, and Detroit. He enjoys collaborating with conductors including Xian Zhang, Manfred Honeck, Stéphane Dénève, Rafael Payare, Peter Oundjian, Ruth Reinhardt, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
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Banks is committed to establishing the saxophone as a vital voice in classical music by commissioning works that showcase its expressive capabilities. This season, he premieres Joan Tower’s poignant new concerto “Love Returns” at the Colorado Music Festival, with additional consortium performances by the National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Toronto Symphony among others. Billy Childs’ “Diaspora”, written for Banks and commissioned by Young Concert Artists and ten orchestras—the largest consortium ever for a saxophone work—marks a major milestone in his mission. His growing list of recent premieres includes Carlos Simon’s “hear them”, Augusta Read Thomas’ “Haemosu’s Celestial Chariot Ride”, Christopher Theofanidis’ “Visions of the Hereafter”, and many others.
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In recital, Banks appears with pianist Xak Bjerken at prestigious series including Cal Performances, Chamber Music Northwest, Davies Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Kravis Center, Festival Napa Valley and Chamber Music Sedona. As a chamber musician, he enjoys deep collaborations with the Miró Quartet and Verona Quartet, joining both ensembles for tours of newly co-created programmes. Banks is a founding member of the award-winning all-saxophone ensemble Kenari Quartet.
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Described as “colourful and continuously fascinating” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), Steven Banks’ compositions are increasingly in demand, reflecting his rising profile as a composer. He has been commissioned by Young Concert Artists and the chamber music festivals of Tulsa, Tucson, Bridgehampton, and Chamber Music North West. His recent works include “Reflections and Exaltations”, “Come What May”, and Cries, Sighs and Dreams all scored for saxophone and string quartet, and “Begin Again” for baritone saxophone, cello, piano, and meditation guide. His solo works “Through My Mother’s Eyes” (commissioned by Chicago Symphony for Hilary Hahn) and “Fantasy on Recurring Daydreams” (premiered by pianist Zhu Wang) have received critical acclaim. His saxophone and piano works, including “Come As You Are”, are among the most performed pieces by saxophonists worldwide.
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As part of his ongoing advocacy for diversity and inclusion, Steven Banks is excited to launch the “Come As You Are” project this season—a innovative community engagement initiative in partnership with orchestras, designed to increase representation in the concert hall through vibrant community performances and affordable ticket access. In addition, Banks spoke at TEDxNorthwesternU about overcoming institutional prejudices in the industry. He also co-created the Learning to Listen roundtable to explore the nuances of the Black experience in classical music, as well as Illuminate!, a conversation series on education, activism, and the LGBTQIA+ community in classical music, created in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.
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Banks is proud to be the first saxophonist to receive a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and earn First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. Banks serves as Saxophone and Chamber Music Faculty and Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has previously held teaching positions at Ithaca College, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and the University of Hartford. Banks studied with Taimur Sullivan, Otis Murphy Jr., and Galvin Crisp, earning degrees from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Banks is an endorsing artist for Conn-Selmer instruments and D’Addario Woodwinds.
Judge
Dr, Elissa Kana
Saxophonist Elissa Kana strives to bring new contemporary works and ideas to audiences in accessible ways. Her performance record as a soloist and chamber musician includes both wide experience and several awards, including a Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Prize at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, Second Prize at the International Saxophone Symposium
Competition, and featured performances at meetings of the North American Saxophone Alliance and the College Band Directors National Association. In addition to performing regularly as a guest artist at institutions throughout the nation, she also regularly presents on-campus recitals at Arkansas State University, where she has served as Instructor of Saxophone since 2022.
As a founding member of the award-winning Colere Quartet, Elissa regularly performs on chamber music series and delivers educational outreach programming to young musicians nationwide. She also regularly collaborates with the Bantam Winds, comprised of her woodwind colleagues at Arkansas State, and fellow saxophonist John Cummins to promote music written for woodwind quintet and saxophone
duos, respectively.
Prior to being named Instructor of Saxophone at Arkansas State University, Elissa served on the faculty of Monmouth College and the University of Northern Iowa, and since 2018, has spent her summers teaching
at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan.
Elissa earned degrees in saxophone performance from the University of Iowa (DMA), Bowling Green
State University (MM), and Northwestern University (BM), and her principal teachers include Frederick L.
Hemke, John Sampen, Kenneth Tse, and Karen Wylie.
Judge
Dr, Myles Boothroyd
Myles Boothroyd is a performing saxophonist, teacher, and music scholar who serves as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Oklahoma. As a soloist and chamber musician, Boothroyd has contributed to the creation of numerous new works for saxophone, including compositions by Martin Bresnick, Olivia Kieffer, Graham Lynch, Michael Markowski, Joel Martinson, and Mischa Zupko.
Boothroyd is President-Elect of the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) and served as Program Chair for the 2024 NASA Biennial Conference. He previously earned top national prizes in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Solo and Chamber Music Competitions, the NASA Collegiate Solo Competition, and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. Boothroyd is former Editor of The Saxophone Symposium, and his articles have been published in Nota
Bene and in The Eastman Case Studies.
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Judge
Dr. Joel Love
Hailed as "extremely moving" by New Music Box and "especially sweet" by the Austin American Statesman, the music of Joel Love (b. 1982) explores an eclectic mix of genres, from short video pieces to works for chamber and large ensembles.
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Joel’s works have been performed by a number of large and small ensembles, exhibited at art galleries, and screened at theaters and festivals around the world. Most recently, Solace: A Lyric Concerto has been performed many times by wind ensembles throughout the United States, including the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and The US Air Force Band in D.C., among others, and has been heard on international stages in Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and at the 2023 Festival Internacional de Saxofone de Palmela in Portugal. Recently, Joel was commissioned by the American Bandmaster’s Association to write In the Offing for wind ensemble, which he composed during his 2020-2021 Copland Residency Award.
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As lover of popular music and film, Joel also enjoys writing for commercial music projects and creating arrangements and has composed music for several films and art installations, incidental music for a variety of settings, and also arranged for several ensembles. Recently, Miró Quartet asked Joel to write a new arrangement of “Silent Night",” which is featured on their new release called Hearth. While finishing his doctorate, Joel was commissioned to write a work for string quartet, Lightscape, to accompany the opening of famed light artist James Turrell's Austin, TX Skyspace, The Color Inside. The Houston Chronicle commented that it "evocatively captures the emotion of The Color Inside."
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Joel completed his D.M.A. in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin and holds degrees from The University of Houston's Moores School of Music (M.Music) and Lamar University’s Mary Morgan Department of Music (B.Music). He lives with his wife Amelia and son Dean in Houston, TX, where he holds a full-time Assistant Professor of Music post at Texas Southern University.
Judge
Dr. Claire Salli
​Dr. Claire Salli is a saxophonist and educator based in Laredo, Texas where she works at Texas A&M International University as Assistant Professor of Saxophone. As a performer, Claire has been a featured soloist for the North American Saxophone Alliance with the Missouri State University Wind Ensemble, performing Roshanne Etezady’s Negative Split. She has also performed concertos with Texas Tech University Orchestra, Texas Tech Concert Band, and Orchestra of the Pines. Claire had placed in numerous competitions such as the Elise Hall Competition for Emerging Women Saxophonists and the American Prize. She is a member of the Austin Saxophone Ensemble and has performed with the San Antonio Philharmonic, Abilene Philharmonic, New Mexico Philharmonic, and National Repertory Orchestra. Dr. Salli is a strong advocate for new music and has commissioned over ten new pieces for the saxophone. Her doctoral research titled, "Bridging the Gap: 3 New Pieces for Intermediate Saxophone Focusing on Extended Techniques" helps students learn contemporary music techniques in a fun and accessible manner. On top of her University teaching, Claire works on faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp every summer. She holds degrees from Texas Tech University, Georgia State University, Bowling Green State University, and Stephen F Austin State University. She is a Conn-Selmer and D’Addario Reed Artist. ​​​
Judge
Dr. Michael Shults
Saxophonist Michael Shults has been praised for his “strong, imaginative” improvisations (Downbeat Magazine) and “fresh and intelligent musical ideas” (The Pitch). A first-call musician on the Kansas City jazz scene for nearly a decade, Shults remains an active performer in the Fountain City, Memphis, and beyond, and has twice appeared as a sideman on the Jazzweek National Radio Airplay Charts. As a graduate student at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Michael was a finalist in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Artist Competition, and was the winner of the Graduate College Soloist category in the 2012 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards Issue. He has since performed by invitation as a featured soloist at the North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference, the Jazz Education Network conference, the Midwest Clinic, the Wisconsin Music Educator's Association conference, the Minnesota Music Educator's Association conference, and the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Michael has shared the stage or recorded professionally with many of the most significant jazz artists of our time, including Bobby Watson, Sean Jones, Nat Reeves, Pat Bianchi, Randy Brecker, Lynn Seaton, Curtis Lundy, John Hebert, and Bob McChesney. He is the Musical Director of the Memphis Jazz Orchestra, which has held a weekly residency on historic Beale Street for over three decades.
As a concert saxophonist, Shults has been praised for his “jaw-dropping” and “authoritative” performances (Bill Brownlee of the Kansas City Star) and has performed by invitation as a soloist at the College Band Director's National Association conference, North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference, the Minnesota Music Educator's Association conference, and the University of Iowa Festival for New Music. He is a founding faculty member of the Kansas City Saxophone Workshop along with Zach Shemon, alto saxophonist of the PRISM Quartet. Dr. Shults has also served on the faculty of the Eugene Rousseau Saxophone Workshop at Shell Lake Arts Center. He is currently the alto saxophone chair in the Coalescent Quartet, which released its debut album “The Wall Between Us (Is Where We Meet)” on Neuma Records to critical acclaim in 2025.
In Memphis, Michael performs regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and with chamber groups including Blueshift Ensemble and PRIZM Ensemble. He has been a featured soloist with The University of Memphis Wind Ensemble, the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Wind Ensemble, the Rhodes College Symphony Orchestra, the Mid-Kansas Symphony, and others.
Dr. Shults is Associate Professor of Saxophone at the University of Memphis, and previously held the position of Assistant Professor of Saxophone for four years at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is a Yamaha Artist and a Vandoren Artist-Clinician and performs on their instruments and reeds exclusively.