David Dees

David Dees is Professor of Saxophone at Texas Tech University. He has been a prizewinner in national and international performance competitions including the 2010 Ville d' Avray / Paris International Saxophone Competition, the North American Saxophone Alliance Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, University of North Texas Concerto Competition, and the Kingsville Young Artist Competition. He has appeared throughout North America and has presented recitals and masterclasses at the Royal College of Music in London, The Birmingham Conservatory, and in Switzerland at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel and at the Musikhochschule Luzerne.

Recent activities include performances of Augusta Read Thomas's Hemke Concerto: Prisms of Light at the 2016 NASA Biennial Conference; Clare Fischer's Grammy Award-winning Pensamientos for alto saxophone and chamber orchestra with the Norman Philharmonic at the 2015 NASA Region 4 Conference; Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem with the Dallas Symphony; performances of Teresa LeVelle's Shadowlands, concerto for soprano saxophone and string quartet in Carnegie Recital Hall; performances of John Mackey's Concerto for Soprano Saxophone with the Texas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble; and additional performances of saxophone concertos by Glazunov, Husa, and Tomasi. He has performed at World Saxophone Congresses in Montreal, Slovenia, and Scotland; the United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium; and at North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences in Iowa, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Students in the Saxophone Studio at Texas Tech University have been national finalists and prizewinners in the TTU Concerto Competition, the MTNA Chamber Winds Competition, the MTNA Young Artist Competition, the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and were Gold Medalists in the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

He serves as Region 4 Director of the North American Saxophone Alliance and hosted the 2003 NASA Region 4 Conference and the 2016 NASA Biennial Conference at Texas Tech University. He has served as a member of the jury and Competition Coordinator for the North American Saxophone Alliance Classical Performance Competition, and was a member of the jury for the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2016.

His recording of Shadowlands, concerto for soprano saxophone and string quartet by Teresa LeVelle is available on Innova Recordings, and he has recorded Christian Lauba's Ars on Blue Griffin Recordings. He was featured on the June 2006 cover of Saxophone Journal Magazine. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas where he was a student of Debra Richtmeyer, and his Master of Music degree from Northwestern University where he was a student of Frederick Hemke. He was a recipient of a Texas Tech University Outstanding Faculty Award presented by Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa, and is a member of the Texas Tech University Teaching Academy. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Tech University, he was a saxophonist with the United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) in Washington, D.C.