Internationally recognized as one of the leading saxophone virtuosi of our time, GARY LOUIE possesses a lively interpretive imagination, coupled with a remarkably understated artistry and a warm, supple tone, qualities that have earned him consistent praise from audiences and critics alike.

Gary Louie’s career has long been distinguished by his successful efforts to integrate the saxophone and its repertoire into the mainstream of classical music life, both here and abroad. He has appeared as soloist with Hugh Wolff and the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of Daniel Hege, David Lockington, Juanjo Mena and Yan Pascal Tortelier, in performances of Milhaud’s La création du monde, Debussy's Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra and Glazunov's Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra. He has also appeared with the orchestras of Allentown, Annapolis, Bozeman, Harrisburg, Long Island, Olympia, Pensacola, Richmond, Roanoke and Southeast Texas, as well as the National Philharmonic, Ohio and Manhattan chamber orchestras and Washington Chamber Symphony.
In recital, Gary Louie has been presented by prestigious institutions from coast to coast: New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall and The Frick Collection; California's La Jolla Chamber Music Society; Boston's Jordan Hall; The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Phillips Collection and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. International performances have been given in Paris at L'Opera Comique, in Rome at the Villa Medici, in Hong Kong, throughout Spain and with Vladimir Lande and the St. Petersburg Symphony and Germany’s Philharmonisches Orchester Augsburg, under the baton of Peter Leonard.

Gary Louie released his first solo CD on the Newport Classic label. Titled "Pastorale," it features romantic works for saxophone and piano, with Kirsten Taylor. With Richard Auldon Clark and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra he has recorded Ibert's Concertino da Camera and Alec Wilder's Suite for Tenor Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra (on Newport Classic) and Henry Cowell's Air and Scherzo (on KOCH International). With soprano Lauren Wagner, he has also recorded Lori Laitman’s song cycle, I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Fall 2008 saw the release of his first KLEOS CD, "Classic Saxophone Concertos," with Vladimir Lande and the St. Petersburg State Academic Orchestra. Mr. Louie has also been heard on Spanish National Radio, Radio France and, throughout the United States, on National Public Radio and Public Television.

An avid supporter and interpreter of contemporary music, Gary Louie is actively involved in the commissioning and performing of new scores for the saxophone. He has premiered new works by the distinguished composers William Albright, John Harbison, Lori Laitman, John Anthony Lennon and Michael Hersch.

Gary Louie’s career was launched in 1986, when he won the coveted Pro Musicis International Sponsorship Award. In 1988 he was selected as a “Young Artist to Watch” by Musical America. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including having been chosen by the United States Information Service for its "Arts America" program and a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Grant. Mr. Louie has also served on the National Screening Committee for the Fulbright Awards.

Gary Louie began serious studies on the saxophone with George Etheridge in Washington, DC, and went on to study at the University of Michigan with the legendary saxophonist/teacher, Donald Sinta. He currently serves as Professor of Saxophone at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

AIKMAN, James
Concerto for Saxophone & Orchestra
AMRAM, David
Ode to Lord Buckley
BEN-HAIM, Paul
3 Songs Without Words
(chamber orchestra)
BENNETT, R.R.
Concerto for Alto Saxophone & Strings
COWELL, Henry
Air and Scherzo
CRESTON, Paul
Concerto for Saxophone & Orchestra, Op. 26
DAHL, Ingolf
Concerto (with orchestra winds)
DEBUSSY
Rapsodie for Saxophone & Orchestra
GLAZUNOV
Concerto in Eb, Op. 109
HUSA, Karel
Elegie et Rondeau
IBERT
Concertino da Camera
LENNON, J.A.
Symphonic Rhapsody
LOUIE, Gary
"Carmen" Fantasy after Bizet's Opera
MARTIN, Frank
Ballade (string orchestra)
MILHAUD
Scaramouche, Op. 165c
(arranged by composer)
MUCZYNSKI, Robert
Concerto (chamber orchestra)
SCHULLER
Concerto
SCHWANTNER, Joseph
Concertino (chamber orchestra)
SIROTA, Robert
Concerto for Saxophone & Orchestra
TORKE, Michael
Concerto for Saxophone & Orchestra
VILLA-LOBOS
Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone
& Chamber Orchestra (1948)

CHAMBER MUSIC
TRIOS
HINDEMITH, Paul
Trio, Op. 47
(tenor sax, viola, piano)
KOECHLIN, Charles
Epitaphe de Jean Harlowe
(alto sax, flute, piano)
STEIN, Leon
Trio
(alto sax, clarinet, piano)
Trio Concertante
(alto sax, violin, piano)

QUARTETS
GLASER, Werner Wolf
Kvartett
(alto sax, violin, viola, cello)
WEBERN, Anton
Quartette, Op. 22
(ten. sax, violin, clarinet, piano)
WOLPE, Stefan
Quartet #1
(tenor sax, trumpet, perc., piano)

QUINTETS
ALBRIGHT, William
Rustles of Spring, 1994 (written for G. Louie) (alto sax, flute, violin, cello, piano)
STEIN, Leon
Quintet
(alto sax, string quartet)
KARLINS, M. Williams
Quintet (alto sax, string quartet)

SEXTETS
BASSETT, Leslie
Wind Music
(alto sax, woodwind quintet)
VILLA-LOBOS, Heitor
Sextour Mystique
(alto sax, flute, oboe, guitar, harp, celeste)

WALTON, William
Facade
(alto sax, flute, clarinet, trumpet, perc., cello, narrator)

"Seldom do you hear a performer who does everything technically and stylistically to spectacular effect, making a sonic statement that propels one into the music itself.  That's what Gary Louie did when he joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Glazunov's Alto Saxophone Concerto and Milhaud's Scaramouche.  His legato, jet-speed articulation and multidimensional color-scape stunned listeners into disbelief."
THE WASHINGTON POST

"There is actually only one concerto on this disc, which is titled ‘Classic Saxophone Concertos,’ but never mind. The repertoire provides Gary Louie with many opportunities to explore the expressive range of the instrument he plays so superbly. Only two of the five pieces were written specifically for saxophone. The others are arrangements that couldn’t sound more natural or apt in Louie’s rapt performances. Louie leaves the listener unaware of any obstacle."
GRAMOPHONE

"Louis boasts skillful phrasing, a wide dynamic range, admirable control in all registers, nimble technique, and the right touch of vibrato. Overall, his sound meshes very well with strings, and musicians and non-musicians alike should find his interpretations convincing."
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

"Gary Louie, the noted saxophonist with the disarmingly understated virtuosity, had the spotlight in Milhaud’s saucy Scaramouche. With remarkable dexterity and a finely polished tone, Louie also excelled as soloist in Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto."
THE BALTIMORE SUN

"Another departure from the concert norm was the solo appearance of saxophonist Gary Louie, a master of the instrument with a sweet tone and fluid technique that always revealed the expressive innards of the music at hand."
THE PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland)

"Louie plays his instrument with a high, sweet, tremulous, near-vocal quality that has absolutely nothing to do with the squalling, visceral use of the sax we find in much American jazz. His recital at the Terrace Theater was an inspired artistic event."
THE WASHINGTON POST

"Although Venzago was aiming for a crisper, Stravinsky-like style [Milhaud La Création du Monde], there still was a nice bite to the snappier moments and a good deal of sultry inference elsewhere. Gary Louie was the superb soloist on alto sax."
THE BALTIMORE SUN

"Gary Louie is a saxophonist with a fluent, supple technique and a lively interpretive imagination. Phrases were shaped carefully and compellingly, with a beautifully regulated vibrato and a firm command of the instrument's coloristic range."
THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Without a doubt, Louie is an astonishing player, one who draws a wealth of varied tone colors and shadings from his alto saxophone much the way Richard Stoltzman and Heinz Holliger do on clarinet and oboe."
LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Gary Louie is a top-class man in his trade, which is playing classical music on the alto saxophone. That was what was to be demonstrated by the recital he gave at Jordan Hall, and demonstrated it was."
THE BOSTON GLOBE

The American soloist Gary Louie was highly convincing and a real highlight of the evening. He presented the saxophone as a breathtaking, restless and a little bit demonic instrument as well as - in the second movement - a blooming Bel Canto voice. Louie got the utmost out of the 20-minute Creston concerto, and earned a large ovation."
AUGSBURGER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG