PRISM has toured Latin America under the auspices of the United States Information Agency and, most recently, has been presented to critical acclaim as soloists with orchestras nationwide, including the Cleveland, Dallas, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, performing Concerto Grosso by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. The Nashville Symphony featured PRISM in 2005 in a new concerto, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by the maverick American composer Steven Mackey. PRISM’s creative work, which includes more than 90 commissions, has been supported with awards from the nation’s leading philanthropies, including the NEA, Meet the Composer, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts (Philadelphia Music Project), the Aaron Copland Fund, the American Music Center, and Chamber Music America. Founded in 1984, the PRISM Quartet has served as Artists-in-Residence at Settlement Music School and the Free Library of Philadelphia since 1994 and presents an annual concert series in New York City, Philadelphia and Michigan. PRISM has recorded for Koch International Classics and Innova, and may be heard weekly in featured music to the PBS series, “NOW with Bill Moyers.”

Matt Levy (tenor saxophone), hailed by the Saxophone Journal as “a complete virtuoso of the tenor saxophone” and by the New York Times for his “energetic and enlivening” performances, is distinguished as both an interpreter and composer of contemporary music. He has been a frequent guest artist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and has performed throughout the Americas and Europe, including in Milan’s La Scala Opera House where he worked under Karlheinz Stockhausen in the critically acclaimed production and premiere of “Samstag aus Licht,” released on Deutsche Grammophon Records. A founding member of the PRISM Quartet, Matt has commissioned and collaborated with many notable composers, including Nicholas Thorne, Frank Ticheli, Robert Capanna, and Steve Mackey. He holds three degrees from the University of Michigan where he studied saxophone with Donald Sinta; composition with William Bolcom, William Albright, Fred Lerdahl; and was the first recipient of the Lawrence Teal Award. Comfortable in a wide range of musical settings, Matt has composed works for orchestra, choir, musical theater, dance, jazz and electronic music ensembles. His music has been described as “gorgeous and ethereal” by Classical Magazine and “pulsing and wittily colored” by the Philadelphia Inquirer and has been broadcasted on NPR’s “Performance Today” from Washington DC; WQRS’s “Around Town” from Detroit; WQXR’s “The Listening Room” from New York City; WFMT’s “Dame Myra Hess Series” from Chicago; CBC and “Voice of America.” He has also scored four motion pictures, including PBS’s “Diary of a City Priest” by Emmy nominee Eugene Martin, recently featured at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. Matt may be heard on Koch International, CRI, Innova, Deutsche Grammophon, Grammavision, and Tzadik. He serves as director of the Philadelphia Music Project.

Taimur Sullivan (baritone saxophone), made his solo debut in New York’s Merkin Hall under the auspices of Ensemble 21. Acclaimed by the New York Times for his “…seductive breadth of tone and considerable technical agility,” he has also been featured as a soloist at New York’s Lincoln Center, Montreal’s International Festival Lanaudiere, and Germany’s EarMarks Festival. An active proponent of contemporary music performance, Taimur has premiered over 40 works by both established and emerging composers. His lecture/performances have been heard at the Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, New York University, and SUNY-Stonybrook, and he has also toured extensively throughout the former Soviet Union, performing concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Donetsk and Sochi. At home in the jazz as well as the classical world, he has performed behind the Platters, the Drifters, Louis Bellson, Cecil Bridgewater, Bunky Green and Jimmy Heath. He has recorded for the Capstone, Mode, Innova, Mastersound and Zuma labels, and holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Michigan State University where he has studied with James Forger, Joseph Lulloff and Debra Richtmeyer. Sullivan lives in New York City, where he has performed with Ensemble 21, Ensemble Sospeso, and the Bang On A Can All-Stars, among others, is a director of the ThreeTwo Festival, and serves on the performance faculty of Columbia University.

Timothy McAllister (soprano saxophone) has been hailed by critics nationwide for his lyrical modern touch” (American Record Guide), “virtuoso artistry” (Saxophone Journal), and “beautifully rounded tone” (Ann Arbor News). He has appeared in important venues, on radio and in television broadcasts throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, including solo debuts in Carnegie Hall Isaac Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Rotterdam’s Zaal de Unie. He has performed with the Royal Belgian Air Force Band, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings , Houston Civic and Symphony Orchestras, the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and the New World Symphony among others. Co-founding member of the new music group, QUORUM, McAllister is responsible for over 60 premieres for saxophone. His critically-acclaimed recordings can be heard on the Centaur, Innova, Equilibrium, CRI, Naxos, Albany, Einstein, G.I.A. and AUR record labels. McAllister is professor of saxophone at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York-Potsdam, and received degrees from the University of Michigan. A student of Donald Sinta, he was awarded the music school’s highest honors, including the Lawrence Teal Award, Earl V. Moore Award and the Albert A. Stanley Medal. In October 2002 he received the Paul C. Boylan Alumni Award from Michigan for his significant contributions to the field of music. Additionally, he has served as a guest professor at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris, and serves on the summer faculty of the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Zachary Shemon (alto saxophone) has been recognized nationally (for his artistry) as both a soloist and chamber musician. He made his orchestral debut at the age of eighteen, performing Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera with the Plymouth, MI symphony.

As a soloist, Zach has been extremely successful in competition, winning the Lansing Matinee Musicale Woodwind Artist Competition in 2005, the Hixon Saxophone/Clarinet Award in 2004, and being invited to compete in the Heida Hermann’s International Woodwind Competition in 2003. He was a two-time concerto competition finalist at the University of Michigan and has performed concertos by Michael Colgrass and William Bolcom with the UM Bands. He has also been a featured soloist on multiple occasions with the Plymouth, MI Symphony and the Ann Arbor Concert Band. In addition to his appearances as a soloist, Zach has performed with the Windsor, ON symphony and was featured with the University of Michigan Symphony Band at Carnegie Hall in 2005. As a chamber musician, he was prize winner in the 2005 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition and performed William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso with his former quartet, Twelve-Ten. About the performance of his piece, Bolcom wrote, “Twelve-Ten did a stellar job on the saxophone quartet solo part#SYMBOL \f “Symbol”188they inhabited the spirit of the piece with perfect comfort”. Zach currently maintains a private saxophone studio in the Ann Arbor, MI area. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan in both Saxophone Performance and Engineering. His primary teachers have been Donald Sinta and Jay Berckley.