Brian Kachur

Saxophonist Brian Kachur has garnered both national and international recognition as a soloist — having been named a Yamaha Young Performing Artist, winner of concerto competitions at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, and one of 16 Americans to compete in the 8th Adolphe Sax International Competition in Dinant, Belgium. He has also earned top prizes in several chamber music competitions, including first prize in those organized by the North American Saxophone Alliance and the Music Teachers National Association, as well as the Gold Medal in the 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Professor Kachur has performed orchestral repertoire with the Evanston, Rockford, and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestras, as well as the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, he was featured as a soloist with the University of Michigan Symphony Band, where he performed Steven Bryant’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone” under the baton of Michael Haithcock. He was a featured soloist on Jean-Denis Michat’s “The Dark Side” alongside the award-winning Cerus Quartet at the 2024 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In October 2024, he performed a guest artist recital at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Frequently performing as a jazz saxophonist in addition to his classical work, Prof. Kachur has performed with the One More Once Big Band based out of Clifton, New Jersey and has been featured as a soloist with the Northwestern University Jazz Ensemble. He also composed and arranged as a member of one of Northwestern University’s Jazz Small Ensembles in 2024-25.

As the baritone saxophonist of Aero Quartet, Prof. Kachur has performed on many notable concert series, including those of Chamber Music Yellow Springs, Chesapeake Music, and Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. Aero was also featured at The Midwest Clinic in 2023, and he has given radio broadcast performances for The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Live on Classical WFMT Chicago and Classical KING-FM Seattle’s Northwest Focus Live. Prof. Kachur can be heard on Aero Quartet’s self-titled debut record on the UK-based record label Orchid Classics, which reached the Top 15 of the Billboard Classical Charts during its initial release. The album was a featured release on the French music streaming service Qobuz and has been broadcast internationally on radio stations, including Barcelona’s RNE Radio Clásica 93.0.

Prof. Kachur is an active proponent of new music, having organized commissions and premiered works by composers such as Jennifer Higdon, Andrew Mead, Stacy Garrop, Karalyn Schubring, Garrett Schumann, and Alfredo Carbrera, among others. Most recently in 2025, he commissioned and premiered “Echoes of a Distant Path,” a sonata for alto saxophone and piano by Miami-based composer and tubist Justin Gruber. A frequent arranger for the saxophone, he has premiered original arrangements of works for saxophone quartet and saxophone ensemble; most recently, the Northwestern University Saxophone Ensemble premiered his arrangement of John Adams’ “Hallelujah Junction” for 11 saxophones.

In addition to his role as adjunct instructor of saxophone at Carthage College, Prof. Kachur frequently presents masterclasses at universities across the United States, including the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Lawrence University, Oakland University, Eastern Michigan University, Northern Illinois University, and California State University–Fullerton, to name a few. He served as a graduate assistant at Northwestern University in 2023-25 and currently teaches in the Chicagoland area as a private instructor, while also serving as a clinician for middle/high school music programs and Solo & Ensemble festivals. He previously taught saxophone at public schools in the Canton and West Bloomfield districts of Southeastern Michigan.

Prof. Kachur is currently earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance from Northwestern University, studying with Taimur Sullivan. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in saxophone performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Timothy McAllister and Andrew Bishop.

Aside from the saxophone, Prof. Kachur is musically active as a barbershop harmony singer and is a member of the Northbrook Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society (Illinois District). He currently sings baritone with the New Tradition Chorus in Glenview, Illinois, where he serves as baritone section leader, a member of the music team, and sings in a chapter quartet.

• Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance, University of Michigan
• Master of Music in Saxophone Performance, University of Michigan
• Doctorate of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance, Northwestern University

• Applied Courses
• Saxophone