Biography

Contemporary saxophonist Allison Balcetis has studied and collaborated with artists from around the world.  Her international performance career includes concerts throughout North America, Europe, Brazil, China, Thailand, and Taiwan.

The core of Allison’s work revolves around making music with others. Her groups include improvisation-based groups such as echoradia, damn magpies, and Blackout Over Rio, as well as groups that play composed music like UltraViolet, Next Stop Otago!, and the Edmonton Saxophone Quartet.

Allison is passionate about working with living composers to facilitate the creation of truly original music for saxophone. One such project included partnering with André Mestre in 2014 to create Curto-Circuito, a workshop for young Brazilian composers, which has saw the creation of over 30 new pieces for saxophone and piano.  Other creative partnerships include Colin Labadie, Ian Crutchley, Nicolás Arnáez, Thierry Alla, Rodrigo Bussad, and André Ribeiro.  Her work as a soloist and chamber musician has produced over 100 world premieres. 

As a Teaching Professor at the University of Alberta, Allison trains the next generation of thoughtful, artistic musicians in saxophone, chamber music, woodwind techniques, and aural skills. 

Outside of the university, Allison helps develop the contemporary arts community as past President of New Music Edmonton, Alberta’s premiere new music concert presenter.  From 2015-2018 she was co-curator of SubArctic Improv and Experimental Arts, a monthly concert series pairing dancers, musicians, text, and visual artists in a totally improvised context that saw over 200 artists grace its stage.

In 2007 Allison co-founded Anubis Quartet, a Chicago-based ensemble with more than 30 commissions and premieres of provocative new music, performing with them until 2014.  During her undergraduate degree, Allison won first place in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2005.

While earning her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Alberta under the direction of Dr. William Street, Allison produced her first solo recording, Zeniths and Nadirs. She also holds degrees from Bowling Green State University where she studied with Dr. John Sampen, and is the first – and only – saxophonist to earn a joint degree from the Université de Bordeaux and the Conservatoire National de Région de Bordeaux where she studied with Marie-Bernadette Charrier.