Classically trained and experimentally minded, Chicago-based saxophonist, improviser, singer, and educator Phil Pierick has been called “the Swiss Army knife of saxophonists.” Though equally at home performing music spanning the past five centuries, he is an emphatic advocate for new music and has commissioned more than 25 new works and presented over 50 premieres. Recent recording projects include an entry in the Stockhausen Verlag’s complete discography of Karlheinz Stockhausen and SaxoVoce (New Focus), an album of new music composed for Ogni Suono. I CARE IF YOU LISTEN describes SaxoVoce as “a tour de force of new possibilities for saxophone and voice, providing a blueprint for the creation of future saxophone duo repertoire.” Phil has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Slovenian Armed Forces Band, and Taiwan-based MIT. He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Illinois, the College of Wooster, and as a guest at more than forty universities and conferences around the world. Phil maintains a private studio in Chicago and aims to foster the internal curiosity and creativity of students, cultivating their individual musical interests and goals. The only prizewinner at both the Jean-Marie Londeix and ISSAC International Saxophone Competitions, Phil is also a three-time prizewinner of MTNA National Competitions. Phil studied at Eastman (DMA), the University of Illinois (MM, BM), and in Vienna (Fulbright Scholar) and Paris (Beebe Scholar). His primary teachers were Debra Richtmeyer, Jean-Michel Goury, Lars Mlekusch, and Chien-Kwan Lin. Phil is a Vandoren Performing Artist.