Tommy Davis regularly performs on all members of the saxophone family in collaborative, multidisciplinary and chamber music settings, where he explores the integration of movement, electronics, video and improvisation. He has performed throughout Canada, the United States, France and the United Kingdom as a soloist and chamber musician having performed at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Sonorities Festival (Belfast), Roulette (Brooklyn), the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences, the Society for Composers Inc. (SCI) National Conference, the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, Opus Erasmus (Paris), Fête de la Cité (Paris), Codes d'Accès, No Hay Banda, Oak Bay Music, GroundSwell Winnipeg, and the Strata New Music Festival. Alumnus of Prairie Debut and Debut Atlantic, he has toured across Canada, the Midwest USA, and France including guest artist recitals and masterclasses at Kent State University, the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, the University of Manitoba, Dalhousie University, and the University of Victoria.

A strong proponent of new music, Tommy has premiered works by Canadian composers Justin Boechler, John Celona, Gordon Fitzell, Vincent Ho, Robert Lemay, Stephanie Orlando; by French composers Karol Beffa, Philippe Geiss, Denis Levaillant, Gregoire Lorieux, Etienne Rolin, Pedro Velasquez; and by American composers Alexander Blank, Cory Kasprzyk, Michael Lanci and Scott Rubin. As a soloist he has performed with the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Wind Orchestra, the U of S Concert Band, the Orchestre d’harmonie de Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris), and the Jean-Michel Goury and Friends Saxophone Ensemble (France). He is a founding member of the chamber ensembles Proteus Saxophone Quartet and Duo d’Entre Deux who are both active performing in North America and Europe. In Montreal, he performs with chamber ensembles Ensemble AKA, Revolution Ensemble and is active in the Montreal improvisation scene.

Tommy is currently D.Mus. candidate and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow at McGill University where he researches live electronic music for saxophone under the direction of Marie-Chantal Leclair. His principal teachers have been Jean-François Guay (Université de Montréal), Jean-Michel Goury (Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris), Dr. Glen Gillis (University of Saskatchewan), Dr. William Street (University of Alberta), Mark DeJong, and Jason Caslor.

Project Highlights

Soloist: Résurgence by Michael Jarrell

Performance of Résurgence by Michael Jarrell for solo saxophone and 8 musicians with the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble under the direction of Guillaume Bourgogne. October 2, 2021 in the Music Multimedia Room, McGill University.

Etu{d,b}e project

I am working with Vincent Cusson exploring autonomous performing computer programs in improvising contexts. This research is supported by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) at McGill University.

DEBUT ATLANTIC 2020 TOUR WITH PROTEUS SAXOPHONE QUARTET

The Proteus Saxophone Quartet will be touring throughout Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in February 2020 with Debut Atlantic. Please see the Debut Atlantic website for more information.

Prairie Debut 2018 Tour with Proteus saxophone quartet

The Proteus Saxophone Quartet will be touring throughout Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in January and February 2018 with Prairie Debut. Please see the Prairie Debut website for more information.

UK tour with revolution ensemble - November 2016

Alongside with composer and performer Gordon Fitzell, I will be performing across the UK as the Revolution Ensemble in November of 2016. We will be performing at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Sonorities Festival (Belfast), and at Cambridge University for the Clare College Music Society in the Clare College Chapel. Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba for their generous support.

Montreal Contemporary Music Lab - Guest Artist With Ensemble AKA

We will have to opportunity to work with participant composers and performers in chamber music, collaboration and workshop setting for their LABO projects from May 27 to June 4. We will also present a concert of our repertoire alongside other LABO guest artists.

Duo d'Entre-Deux with Wild Space Dance in Milwaukee - Luminous

Tommy returned to work with Wild Space Dance, alongside Nick Zoulek as the Duo d'Entre-Deux, for "Luminous", a site-specific work featuring dance, improvisation, set music, lighting and resonant space held at the Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, WI. The music was set and performed by the Duo d'Entre-Deux in collaboration with Debra Loewen, artistic director and choreographer.

Proteus Quartet - Victoria, B.C. Tour

The Proteus Saxophone Quartet traveled to Victoria, B.C. to perform for the 'New Music and Beyond' series hosted by Oak Bay Music. Here they performed pieces by local composers John Celona and Justin Boechler. They also performed a concert and masterclass with the saxophone studio of Wendell A. Clanton at the University of Victoria. Proteus and Tommy performed in the 'Emerging Artists Alumni Series: Music by Justin Boechler' at the Philip T. Young Recital Hall, University of Victoria. Before heading back home they also took part in a composers reading session with the Victoria Composers Collective.

Gordon Fitzell - Commission Project

In 2015, with the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts Council, Tommy collaborated with Gordon Fitzell in the development of the techniques and notation for the solo saxophone piece, r/evolution, inspired by saxophonists Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Ned Rothenberg and Colin Stetson. r/evolution was premiered by Tommy at the XVII World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France on July 12th, 2015.

Premiere Performance Video on Vimeo

Proteus Quartet - STrata New Music Festival

Proteus Saxophone Quartet was invited as the guest ensemble for the Strata New Music Festival held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in June, 2015. Performing a feature concert consisting entirely of works for saxophone quartet by Canadian composers John Celona, Justin Boechler and Alex Loewen, the program included three world premieres, two of which were commissioned for Proteus by the Strata Festival.

Duo d'Entre-Deux with Wild Space Dance at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY

In March of 2015, Tommy traveled to New York for a collaborative project with Wild Space Dance Company, Debra Loewen artistic director, and Duo d'Entre-Deux. They performed two showings of 'Carried Away' at Roulette which explored the relationships between moving bodies, improvised music, projected images, Roulette's unusual performance space and the audience.

Performance Excerpts on Youtube - One, Two and Three

France Tour

With support from the Canada Council for the Arts in November 2013, Tommy partook in a series of concerts in the south of France with the Jean-Michel Goury and Friends Saxophone Ensemble where he was featured as sopranino saxophone soloist for Calderosax by Philippe Geiss.