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We would like to Welcome
Tanner Dawson to Woodwind Day at Dixie State University

Picture and Biography Coming Soon

O’Connor is an active solo artist, as well as soprano saxophonist of the Red Rock Saxophone Quartet and principal clarinetist of the Nevada Chamber Orchestra. She has been a saxophonist with the Henderson Symphony Orchestra and has played in musical productions on the Las Vegas Strip including Jesus Christ Superstar at the Tropicana and Guys and Dolls at the Westgate. O'Connor recently collaborated with the h2 quartet on Heitor Villa-Lobos' “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5” for solo saxophone and saxophone quartet, as well as the Capitol Quartet on Joel Love’s “Three Images” for saxophone octet. She performed Marcello's "Concerto” for oboe [or soprano saxophone] with the Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra, Russell Peterson’s “…Who Needs Enemies?” for saxophone quartet and wind orchestra at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the North American premiere of Jun Nagao’s “Die Heldenzeit” for alto saxophone and wind orchestra with the Desert Winds, and Henri Tomasi’s “Ballade” for alto saxophone with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Symphony Orchestra as a Graduate Solo Competition Winner. An advocate for new music, O'Connor will premiere new works by Kincaid Rabb and Yong Zhen Ren in 2020 and has previously premiered solo and chamber works by Krista Abrahamson, Daniel Dorff, Garrett Hope, and David Von Kampen.

O’Connor is a Doctor of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (ABD, expected graduation May 2020). She received a Master of Music in Saxophone Performance magna cum laude from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance cum laude from Michigan State University. O’Connor’s primary teachers include Phillip Barham, Paul Haar, Joseph Lulloff, and Diego Rivera; she has also performed in solo master classes for Claude Delangle, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Ellis Marsalis, Bennie Wallace, and Walt Weiskopf. Her professional memberships include the American Federation of Musicians, College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, and Sigma Alpha Iota. O'Connor is the President of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity Las Vegas Alumnae Chapter and founding director of both the Las Vegas Saxophone Day and Las Vegas Clarinet Day.

O’Connor is a Vandoren Artist-Clinician and performs exclusively on Vandoren and Yamaha products. She is also an endorsing artist for Meridian Winds’ Center Brace Resonance Weights and Ergonomic Heavy Mass Saxophone Neck Screws.

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