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composer

Composer Kyle Saulnier fuses the American musical vocabulary with modern orchestral techniques and industrial rock muscle into music that has been called "lush and inventive," (WNYC), “fearlessly relevant” (New York Music Daily), and “a Great American Songbook of another order” (Downbeat). His compositions and arrangements have been performed nationally and internationally by the Awakening Orchestra, the Metropole Orkest, Jon Irabagon, the Westerlies, Young the Giant, Francesca Blanchard, Alexei Murdoch, WeatherVest, Osso String Quartet, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Saturn People’s Sound Collective, TURNmusic, and the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra. Kyle has also scored for National Geographic Television and orchestrated for the independent film Nude Tuesday.


performer

pc: Peter Gannushkin

pc: Peter Gannushkin

SELECTED production credits

the Awakening Orchestra - volume ii: to call her to a higher plain. (2020, Biophilia), interlude: Atticus Live! - the music of Jesse Lewis. (2016, Biophilia), volume i: this is not the answer. (2014, innova)
Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble - Home Is Here (2023, Tapestry), The New Immigrant Experience (2020, Tapestry), The Lullaby Project (2018, Tapestry)
Pablo Masis - Thought and Memory (2023, Brooklyn Jazz Underground)
the Vermont Quarantine Collective - here behind the glass. (2020)
Patrick CorneliusWhile We're Still Young (2016, Whirlwind)

Kyle leads and conducts the Awakening Orchestra, a New York City-based large ensemble that has drawn favorable comparisons to the Liberation Music Orchestra, Gil Evans Orchestra, and Mingus Big Band. He performs on acoustic and electric basses and baritone saxophone, specializing in creative, composer-driven projects that blur the lines of traditional genre. Kyle has premiered new works by Eve Beglarian and Erik Nielsen, and appeared with artists including Moppa Elliott’s Acceleration Due to Gravity, Brian Boyes’ Saturn People’s Sound Collective, Kat Wright, Francesca Blanchard, Andy Gagnon’s LOVECRAFT, TURNmusic, the Vermont Jazz Ensemble, and Cricket Blue. He has collaborated with dance ensembles DanceTramp and ERGO movement, and is a sought-after clinician and guest conductor across New England.


principal instruments

acoustic & electric bass
baritone saxophone

doubles & other performance credits

tenor saxophone
soprano saxophone
alto saxophone
flute
clarinet
bass clarinet
studio conductor
percussion
backing vocals
guitar
piano
organ



educator

pc: Quinnipiac University

pc: Quinnipiac University

 

clinics & masterclasses:

Kyle is active and available for clinics and masterclasses, specializing in contemporary composition and ensemble direction. To inquire about a guest lecture, contact him here.

teaching EXPERIENCE

Middlebury College - Middlebury, VT
University of Vermont - Burlington, VT
Quinnipiac University - Hamden, CT
Northern Vermont University - Johnson, VT
New England Conservatory - Boston, MA
Bergen Community College - Paramus, NJ

recent clinics & events

Sharon High School - Sharon, MA, 2024
VT District V Regional Festival - HS Jazz Ensemble - Rutland, VT, 2024
Winooski Valley Winter Jazz Festival - Montpelier, VT, 2024/2019
Music-COMP: Woodwind Composing Workshop - Middlebury, VT, 2024 // Brass Composing Workshop - Bellows Falls, VT, 2022-2023
Staples High School - Westport, CT, 2023