Zach Stern

Newly appointed as the Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Valdosta State University, Dr. Zach Stern teaches classical and jazz saxophone, chamber music, and improvisation. He also performs with the VSU Faculty Jazz Combo. 

Zach’s performance career has taken him all over the world, with appearances at premier venues including Carnegie Hall, Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. As the founding alto saxophonist of the acclaimed Sinta Quartet, Zach has received top prizes at many of the country's most respected competitions, including the Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, Coleman, and M-Prize Competitions. He has performed as a featured soloist with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, the French Republican Guard Band, the Dallas Winds, the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Band, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

Zach is an avid chamber musician and collaborator, with recent performances alongside cellist Dr. Daniel Ketter, pianist Richard Blumenthal, and violinist (and spouse) Dr. Sophia Han. In addition to chamber settings, he has performed with orchestras including the St. Louis, Mobile, Paducah, and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestras.

Prior to his appointment at VSU, Zach held faculty positions at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri State University. Zach frequently presents saxophone master classes at universities, high schools, and middle schools around the country, and is in demand as a saxophone clinician and adjudicator.

Zach holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and he previously earned his master's and bachelor's degrees in Saxophone Performance and Music Education from the University of Michigan, where he served as the teaching assistant for the saxophone studio. Zach’s primary saxophone teachers are Dr. Chien-Kwan Lin, Donald Sinta, and Dr. Scott Plugge.

Zach is a Conn-Selmer Artist and performs exclusively on Selmer-Paris saxophones.