Dr. Xin Gao serves as Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Music Theory at Truman State University. Prior to this, he served on faculties of East Tennessee State University, the Music Academy of North Carolina, Furman University, Georgia State University and University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Summer Music Camp. He also taught at UNCG and University of Tennessee at Knoxville during his graduate work at those schools. At UNCG, he also filled the duties of Associate Professor Steve Stusek while Stusek was on sabbatical.

Gao has enjoyed a successful career as a chamber musician and soloist, and his accomplishments include national and international recognition at major world competitions, including first place at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Young Artist Woodwind Competition in 2011, finalist at the International Saxophone Symposium and Competition (ISSAC) in 2014, and twice semi-finalist at the International Jean-Marie Londeix Saxophone Competition in 2008 and 2014. With the chamber group QuadrAtomic Saxophone quartet, he reached the finals of both the Fischoff and Coleman competitions, and the group was awarded the Coleman-Saunderson Prize. In 2016, he served as judge at MTNA Tennessee State Young Artist Woodwind and Chamber Music Competition.

Gao received his DMA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied with Steve Stusek. He also completed a year of graduate study under the guidance of Connie Frigo at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. His BM and MM in saxophone performance are from Duquesne University, where he studied with James Houlik. Gao hails from Chengdu City, People’s Republic of China, where he began his musical studies on clarinet at the age of eight, studying with Professor Zhenglong Xiang at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. In 1997, at the age of 13, Gao enrolled in the pre-college program at the Sichuan Conservatory and decided to change his major to classical saxophone performance, a major created by Yusheng Li, who was also new to the Conservatory that year.

Read more at xingaosax.com.