Anna Marie Wytko is a member of the music faculty at Kansas State University where she teaches saxophone, chamber music, and music theory. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota (BM, saxophone), where she also earned her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. A student of Eugene Rousseau and the recipient of the prestigious Berneking Fellowship, she served as Saxophone Instructor (elective studio instruction) and Assistant to Professor Rousseau while at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, Anna Marie serves as a member of the faculty for the Eugene Rousseau Saxophone Workshop at Shell Lake Arts Center in Shell Lake, Wisconsin.
A Yamaha Performing Artist-Clinician, Dr. Wytko has performed throughout the United States, and in England, Scotland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Canada and Mexico. Recent appearances include guest artist concerto performances with orchestra throughout England and Scotland, a guest artist clinic-performance demonstration for the Iowa Bandmasters Association, a performance of Karel Husa’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band with the Kansas State University Symphony Band, performances as orchestral saxophonist with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Musicfest Festival Orchestra (AZ), and a guest artist performance of acclaimed French composer and pianist Roger Boutry’s Divertimento in Ted Mann Concert Hall at the Ninth Annual International Saxophone Master Class in Minneapolis, MN. The previous year Anna Marie presented composer Libby Larsen’s Bid Call for Alto Saxophone and Cello as one of only three saxophonists invited to perform at this international event honoring the composer. Additionally, Dr. Wytko has performed as guest soloist with band at the Kansas Music Educators Association in Wichita, Kansas. As guest soloist with the Kansas State University Symphony Orchestra, she presented the world premiere performance of Craig Weston’s Elegy and Dance (solo saxophone and orchestra), a work dedicated to Anna Marie. Dr. Wytko has appeared as guest soloist with band at the American Band College in Medford, Oregon, and has performed guest artist recitals at the Shell Lake Arts Center (Shell Lake, Wisconsin), in Szczecin, Poland as one of only two American guest artists invited to perform at the IV Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Saksofonowy, and in Vancouver, B.C. A passionate chamber musician, Anna Marie performs frequently as alto saxophonist with the highly acclaimed Joseph Wytko Saxophone Quartet.
During 2004, Anna Marie was selected as winner of the 2004 Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition and was the First Place Prize Winner of the Symphony of the West Valley 25th Annual Jennings Butterfield Young Artist Competition. Dr. Wytko has performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference (Iowa City), at the World Saxophone Congress (Minneapolis), at the Congreso Internacional de Clarinete y Saxophón (Acapulco, Mexico), and as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the West Valley, the American Band College Band, the Encore Wind Ensemble (MN), the North Suburban Concert Band (MN), the Kansas State University Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas State University Symphony and Concert Bands. In April of 2004, she presented the world premiere performance of Greg A Steinke’s Expressions II—On the Paintings of Wassily Kandinsky (2 saxophones, 2 percussion, piano), a work written for and dedicated to Anna Marie and her father, saxophonist Joseph Wytko. She has also performed as orchestral saxophonist with the Orquesta Sinfónica UANL in Monterrey, Mexico, under French conductor Olivier Grangean, and has served as orchestral saxophonist with the Minnesota Orchestra, performing under such conductors as Osmo Vanska.
Upcoming events for Dr. Wytko include recording sessions with legendary saxophonist Eugene Rousseau, preparations for a solo compact disc recording of music for saxophone, and guest artist performances at the Society of Composers Inc. Region Six Convention. During Fall 2010, she will be a guest artist in residence at the Best of the West Music Festival in Junction, Colorado, where she will perform composer John Mackey’s Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Band with the Mesa State College Wind Symphony, perform a solo recital with piano, and present master classes. She is also collaborating with distinguished composer Libby Larsen in the creation of a new work for saxophone.
