Connor O'Toole

Connor O’Toole strives to make meaningful and thought-provoking connections through the medium of the concert saxophone. He hopes to inspire innovative thinking about music, and expand the image of the classical saxophone to wider audiences. Connor was a prize winner at the 2019 Music Teacher's National Association Young Artists Competition. He made his solo debut with the Las Vegas Academy Wind Symphony and has since performed as a featured artist with the University of Michigan Symphony Band. In 2018, Connor received the Hans Schaeuble Stiftung Award at the Arosa Music Academy and was a featured artist in the 2019 Arosa Klassic Festival. 

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Mr. O’Toole has been a member of the prestigious University of Michigan Symphony Band and can be heard on their latest CD, Bolcom, and Friends. He has also been a member of the Las Vegas Academy Wind Ensemble, and the World Youth Wind Symphony. He is sought after as an orchestral saxophonist as well, having performed with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra.

Connor has been a member of the Sapphirus Quartet and has served as the tenor saxophonist. The group was prize winners in the 2017 and 2019 Dale and Nancy Briggs Chamber Music Competition; in 2018, they were finalists in the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition. The quartet has given performances throughout the state of Michigan, including the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where the group gave masterclasses.

As a student, Connor has performed in masterclasses with Prism Quartet members: Timothy McAllister, Zach Shemon, Taimur Sullivan, and Matthew Levy, as well as saxophonists, Robert Young, Steven Jordheim, and Edward Goodman. In the summer of 2015, he participated in the UNIVERSITÉ EUROPÉENNE DE SAXOPHONE, where he received instruction from Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Christian Wirth, Masataka Hirano, Vincent Le Quang, and Arno Bornkamp. In 2014, he attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, where he awarded their highest honor, the Joseph Maddy Summer Young Artist Award, for his excellence and leadership in the arts.

Connor has a Bachelors Degree in Music Performance from the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he studied with Timothy McAllister. He holds a Masters Degree in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied with Rob Buckland. Currently, Connor is pursuing an Artist Certificate at the University of Texas, Austin, where he studies with Stephen Page