Brian Utley is Senior Lecturer in Saxophone at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, where he also coordinates the Chamber Music Program. He received the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in saxophone performance, with a minor in music theory, from Louisiana State University. He also holds the M.M. from L.S.U. and the B.M. from Murray State University, and his primary saxophone teachers include Griffin Campbell and Scott Erickson. Prior to his appointment at Vanderbilt, Utley served as Associate Professor of Saxophone at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Utley has been a featured soloist with the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and is a regular classical saxophonist with the Nashville Symphony. As a chamber musician, Utley has performed with Intersection, a Nashville-based contemporary music ensemble, with the Blair Wind Quintet and the Stone Fort Wind Quintet, and is a co-founder of the award-winning Red Stick Saxophone Quartet.
He is a regular recitalist at regional and national conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and has performed at multiple NACUSA conferences, World Saxophone Congresses, U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposia, and new music festivals. As an advocate of new music, he has premiered works by noted composers including David Froom, Leonard Mark Lewis, Stephen Lias, Lidiuno Pitombeira, and William Price. Utley is also a regular guest artist and clinician at universities and secondary schools throughout the country, and serves frequently as an adjudicator for local, state, and regional competitions.
His first solo recording Characters is available on the Mark Records label. The project features 21st-century works by American composers, including three world premiere recordings. Utley is an endorsing artist for Légère Reeds, and performs on Légère Signature Series Reeds exclusively.
