Vince Gnojek Professor of Saxophone
As a performer of both classical and jazz styles on all of the saxophones, Vince Gnojek has performed in almost every conceivable musical setting. As a classical saxophone soloist he has appeared with orchestras and wind ensembles, and has been a solo recitalist in Singapore, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Macau, Thailand, China, and throughout the United States. During a recent tour in Switzerland (The Montreux Jazz Festival) and Germany by the University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble I, Gnojek was the featured jazz soloist. He has performed in forty-two states and in Mexico, Canada, Portugal, and Thailand as the alto saxophonist with the highly acclaimed Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet. As the saxophonist with the Kansas Woodwinds, a faculty chamber music ensemble in residence at the University of Kansas, he has performed regionally and at national conferences in Washington D. C., Chicago and Kansas City. Gnojek has also been a member of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, and the Topeka Symphony Orchestra.
A versatile musician, Gnojek has been a free-lance musician in New York, Denver, and Kansas City, and has appeared with a variety of artists and entertainers. In addition to his first solo recording, CROSSINGS, he is the featured soloist on John Mackey’s Concerto for soprano saxophone with the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble compact disc WILD NIGHTS on the NAXOS label, released in April 2009. He has also recorded on Mark Custom Recording with the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet, on the ECM label as a member of Steve Reich's Contemporary Music Ensemble, as the alto saxophonist with the Kansas Woodwinds, and on the Sea Breeze label as the lead alto saxophonist with the Kansas City Boulevard Big Band.
As a clinician for the Conn-Selmer Company, Gnojek appears frequently at academies/conservatories of music, universities, colleges and high schools throughout the world. A dedicated educator, he has enjoyed serving as an adjudicator at solo and ensemble contests in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. His educational affiliations have included the University of Colorado, Boulder; Metropolitan State College, Denver; the University of Colorado, Denver; and Mannes College of Music in New York. He is currently Professor of Saxophone at the University of Kansas, where he teaches a studio of 20-25 undergraduate and graduate saxophonists and four saxophone quartets. The top Saxophone Quartet has been awarded the Best Classical Chamber Music Group throughout the United States and Canada by the Down Beat magazine Annual Student Music Awards Competition on five different occasions.
