“Adams’s concerto followed, full of impatient energy, nods to various styles of music and some wildly intense saxophone lines…the piece was full of saxophone pyrotechnics that McAllister played with command and ease. He moved gracefully from a bold, brassy sound to mellow, almost vocal strains, playing with the precision and polish of a classical player and a musical freedom that made much of the piece sound improvised on the spot”

Elaine Schmidt Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (March 28, 2014)

“Paul Creston’s Saxophone Concerto (1941) runs the gamut of moods from the dramatic and lyrical to the bright and breezy, often within the same movement. Better known through its 1963 wind-band arrangement, I find the orchestral original more attractive, though Timothy McAllister would be a persuasive advocate in any format.”

Guy Rickards Gramophone Magazine (March 2024)

“an absolute master of the saxophone, and a composer’s dream musician!”

Jennifer Higdon GRAMMY-winning composer and Pulitzer Prize Laureate

“John Corigliano’s ‘Triathlon’ with saxophone soloist Timothy McAllister was the finale and a knock out success…a commanding performance with the composer on hand to share in the ovation.”

Joseph Dalton Times-Union (6/5/22)

“★★★★★ out of five–Performance, ★★★★★ out of five–Recording (John Adams City Noir; Saxophone Concerto; Nonesuch/St. Louis Symphony)”

David Nice BBC Music Magazine (July 2014)

“McAllister was phenomenal, giving a dazzling performance that rocked the audience to its feet for a prolonged and well-deserved ovation”

Sarah Bryan Miller St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Oct 2013)

“…the playing by the LSO is first-rate in the three concertos, their experience of Fuchs’s style from four previous albums (recorded between 2004 and 2014; this newcomer was set down in August 2017) showing. The concertos are all very different in format…Rush is a rather Bernsteinian diptych for alto saxophone with a punchy, roof-raising final passacaglia…soloists are exemplary. Naxos’s sound is terrific.”

Guy Rickards Gramophone, October 2018

James Lee III

A new concerto dedicated to Timothy McAllister for alto saxophone and orchestra from James Lee III is coming for the 25/26 season! ABIDING LEGACY pays tribute to the African-American astronaut/saxophonist Ron McNair and commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Challenger tragedy in 2026. McAllister, a Houston Bay Area native and son of NASA-affiliated employees, was a beginning saxophonist at the time of the space shuttle disaster which left him forever inspired by McNair’s life and those of his peers who the world lost that fateful day.

The 20-minute work for full symphony orchestra is fully commissioned through a gift from the Gail Straith Fund at the University of Michigan and is available for first performances and recording. Contact Martha Woods (info below).

Booking Information

Martha Woods
President
Jonathan Wentworth Associates Ltd.
6118 40th Avenue
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-3012