Toronto Saxophone Collective

Christopher Jones

Christopher Jones enjoys a musical life as a concert saxophonist and teacher in Tkarón:to / Toronto, ON. Christopher actively interprets contemporary, classical, jazz, and pop music.

Christopher founded and performs with the Toronto Saxophone Collective, an ensemble that debuted their 2023-24 season playing transcriptions and Canadian premieres of works by Robert Lemay and Steven Banks. With a variety of chamber ensembles in Toronto, he has performed world premieres of music by Snežana Nešić, Yikke Zhang, Nolan Hildebrand, Francis Ubertelli, Hayden McGowan, and more.

As a soloist, in March 2024 Christopher advanced to the live quarter final round of the prestigious Andorra Saxfest International Solo Competition. In 2019, he won the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition and performed Ingolf Dahl’s saxophone concerto with their Wind Ensemble.

He also frequently plays in saxophone quartets, including the Iriqtus Quartet who, in 2022, placed third among their cohort in the final round of the Canadian Music Competition. In 2020, he co-presented with the aksəs quartet an online concert season of contemporary music by Chen Yi, Viet Cuong, Guillermo Lago, Xinyan Li, and José Río-Pareja. And in 2019, he won the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition a second time with the Karisyg Quartet, who subsequently performed with the school’s Wind Symphony.

As a music theorist, he has presented analyses of music by Adolf Busch, Tōru Takemitsu, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edison Denisov, and Florent Schmitt at the University of Toronto. Academic recognition includes being named a University of Toronto Scholar, nominee for a Rhodes Scholarship, and recipient of the school’s Graduate Fellowship.

As a teacher, Christopher maintains a private studio and teaches at schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Last year he also taught music theory at the University of Toronto as a Teaching Assistant. Christopher holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Toronto. His primary teachers include Wallace Halladay, Djamel Mami, and Rami El-Farrah, and he has studied through lessons and masterclasses with Timothy McAllister, Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Stephen Page, Arno Bornkamp, Joonatan Rautiola, Kenneth Tse, Christian Wirth, Otis Murphy, Mariano Garcia, and more.

Min Gu Kang

Min Gu Kang is a Korean-Canadian saxophone player and an educator based in Toronto.

He specializes on the baritone saxophone and works written for bassoon and cello, transcribing and arranging different varieties of repertoire for different instruments in hopes to expand the repertoire of the classical baritone saxophone. He has performed a quartet concerto with the UofT Wind Symphony with the Nameless Quartet as a result of the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition.

Some works he has transcribed/arranged are bassoon and cello works by Debussy, Brahms, Faure, Saint-Saëns, Shostakovich, Pierné, Hindemith and more. He enjoys working on expanding the saxophone quartet repertoire as well.

Whilst Dr. Wallace Halladay is his main teacher, he has also worked with many world renowned saxophone players multiple times such as Claude Delangle, Nicolas Arsenijevic, Arno Bornkamp, Simon Diricq, Vincent David, Steven Banks, Makoto Hondo and more. He frequently works with other instrumentalists such as Sophie Dervaux (Principal Bassonist, Vienna Phil.) as a part of his works of expanding the repertoire of the baritone saxophone.

He has received multiple grants to study at the Université Européenne de Saxophone in France, and he now works there to help many saxophone players around the world. He has worked with many different ensembles including contemporary works, orchestral works and he has received his Bachelor’s Degree in Saxophone Performance at the University of Toronto under the instruction of Dr. Wallace Halladay.

In his spare time, he enjoys photography and he is still transcribing music for the baritone saxophone to this day.

Yunfei Xie

Yunfei Xie is currently a graduate student pursuing an MM degree under Professor Chien-Kwan Lin. He is a classical saxophone soloist, chamber musician, and experienced band player. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in performance from the University of Toronto, with Professor Wallace Halladay.

During his more than 10 years of saxophone journey, he had acclaimed multiple first prizes in the Beijing Art Festival of College Students both as the leader of the USTB Symphonic Band and the Invisible Leap Quartet. He was also the winner of the 2023 University of Toronto Wind Competition, and the 2024 UTSO competition.

Yunfei studied with world-famed virtuosos like Claude Delangle, Timothy McAllister, Vincent David, and others. As a musical student, he is building a comprehensive approach towards music, nourishing his verdant passion with a polychromatic insight.

Jason Lau

Jason (Ting Kwan) Lau is a Toronto-based saxophonist known for his expertise in Classical and Contemporary music. A dedicated performer and educator, Jason excels across the saxophone repertoire, equally at ease as a soloist and as a chamber musician. Since 2020, he has been honored as a JLV Artist.

Jason is an active competitor, winning the University of Toronto Faculty of Music Winds Competition in 2018 and performing Alexander Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto with the Wind Symphony. Driven by a passion for the saxophone’s virtuosic potential, he frequently explores repertoire beyond the traditional scope of his instrument. As a chamber musician, Jason is one of the founding members of the Toronto Saxophone Collectives, where he performs both transcriptions and Canadian premieres of pieces by composers like Robert Lemay and Steven Banks.

As an educator, Jason maintains a private studio and teaches across the Greater Toronto Area. He has successfully prepared students for prestigious programs, including Arts Unionville, first-place admissions to the Bachelor of Music Performance at the University of Toronto, and membership in the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra. His principal teachers include Wallace Halladay, Mariano Garcia, and Nadine Bal, and he has pursued further studies through lessons and masterclasses with renowned saxophonists such as Claude Delangle, Timothy McAllister, Vincent David, Arno Bornkamp, Joonatan Rautiola, and Christian Wirth.

Kannan Bloor

Kannan Bloor is a Canadian classical saxophonist and educator who transports listeners to the unique timbre of his instruments. An animated and expressive soloist, Kannan was the winner of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition (2026) and the Winds Concerto Competition (2024). He was honoured to be the first ever saxophone Emerging Artist for the Edmonton Recital Society’s 2024-25 season, and curated a concert program featuring works transcribed for saxophone from other instruments including Cesar Frank’s Sonate pour Piano et Violon, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Romance Op.36 for French horn.

As a member of duoKAN, Kannan and his duo partner Christina Kant were selected as finalists for the ninth edition of the Orford Music Award competition, and look forward to competing in the summer of 2026. Kannan founded duoKAN with harpist Christina Kant and together have been performing across Canada since 2022, promoting the unique qualities of this non-conventional instrument pairing. Together they have performed multiple outreach and benefit concerts in Toronto and Edmonton, as part of their previous project Coalescence; guided by the idea of "unlikely instruments that coalesce”. duoKAN’s benefit concerts have raised more than $10,000 in support of cancer research, refugee funds, and more, with the duo planning to continue fundraising efforts for various causes in the future. Currently in the works, their next project involves the existing classical tango repertoire, while introducing new classical compositions and transcriptions for harp and saxophone. The duo continues to challenge the expectations of their sound concept and is currently undergoing the commissioning of new works for the unique instrumentation.

Kannan performed Erwin Schulhoff’s Hot Sonate with the Faculty of Music Wind Ensemble led by Dr. Gillian Mackay; a performance earned from the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition (2024). Kannan also participates in shows as a member of various saxophone quartets, most notably the Nameless Quartet; honourable mention of the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition (2024). As a result, they had the opportunity to perform William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso with the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. In addition to performing educational outreach concerts at high schools in the GTA, the Nameless Quartet has participated in performances hosted by the University of Toronto, including the Oasis Concert Series (Toronto and Mississauga) and Musicfest Canada. Beyond his work as a soloist and chamber artist, Kannan shows versatility in his large ensemble work with experience as a member of the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Saxophone Chamber Ensembles, and the Toronto Saxophone Collective. Previously, he was a private contractor for the Queen’s Own Rifles Band of the Canadian Armed Forces, assisting in performances in marching and static band settings. Kannan has performed as a substitute player in local ensembles, such as the Kindred Spirits Orchestra and Rouge River Winds Community Concert Band. Most recently, he performed as a member of the international travelling production; the “Evangelion Wind Symphony”, featuring pop, jazz, and classical film scores for an audience of over three-thousand in Toronto’s prestigious Meridian Hall.

As an educator, Kannan has been teaching as an intermittent instructor at the Newton’s Grove School campus - of which he is an alumnus - running masterclasses, individual lessons, and conducting the student wind bands. Having taught independently as a private woodwind teacher, many of his students have achieved entrance to both Canadian and international honour bands, participate in local wind ensembles, and some have continued to pursue a career in music. In his own pursuits, he has had the opportunity to work with world-class saxophonists such as Vincent David, Steven Banks, Dr. Nathan Nabb, Professor Masato Kumoi, Dr. John W. Sampen, and more. Kannan holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Saxophone Performance from the University of Toronto, where he studied with distinguished Canadian classical saxophonist Dr. Wallace Halladay. He is currently pursuing his Master's Degree in Saxophone Performance, continuing his studies with Dr. Halladay at the University of Toronto.

Blake Smith

Chantelle Tom-Ying

Chantelle is a fourth year life sciences and saxophone performance student at the University of Toronto studying under Professor Wallace Halladay.

Praised for her expressive quality, Chantelle won first place in the IMFC woodwinds category, first place in the OMFA classical reed provincials, was winner of the Rouge River Winds solo competition, and received an honourable mention at the University of Toronto Winds Concerto Competition. She has performed with notable ensembles including the Skule Orchestra and the Toronto Pops Orchestra.

Through grants from the university, Chantelle has benefitted from studies with esteemed soloists such as Timothy McAllister, Claude Delangle, and Vincent David at programs in Taiwan and France.

Robert Hess

Robert is a Canadian saxophonist currently living in Toronto who is passionate about education, promoting new music, performing in various mixed ensembles, and arts documentation. He shows his passion for music by aiming to create new music for under-composed instrumental ensembles, and by receiving positive student feedback. He performs with the After Hours Big Band, LondON Saxophone Quartet, and other various small chamber groups. As a private educator, he teaches saxophone, flute, clarinet, and theory in person and online.

Robert has had the opportunity to perform throughout North America and Italy including performances in Ontario, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, and at the 2019 and 2016 editions of the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy. He was the winner of the 2017-2018 Kansas Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist Woodwind competition and the 2017 Wichita State Concerto Competition. With Meadowlark Quartet he won the 2018 and 2017 Wolff-Ilse Bing Chamber Music competitions in Wichita, Kansas, and received alternate in the Kansas MTNA Chamber Music Competition. While working on his masters, he has performed throughout Wichita at the Ulrich Museum of Art, Mark Arts Gallery, the 2017 KNOB New Music Festival at Fisch Haus, with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and at regional and national North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) conferences. He has premiered a number of solo and chamber works for saxophone and electronics at conferences and concert series in Ontario.

At the 2018 Waterloo Regional Contemporary Music Sessions, he met with Elizabeth A. Baker and began a duo (baker-hess.bandcamp.com) expanding the perception of an organic traditional ensemble of saxophone and piano through electronic processing.

He completed his MMus ’18 at Wichita State and BMusEd ’16 with Honors at Western University in Canada where he studied with Geoffrey Deibel and Bobbi Thompson, respectively. Additionally he has studied with Frederick L. Hemke, John Sampen, and Gail Levinsky at the Frederick L. Hemke Saxophone Institute in 2017.

Harrison Argatoff

Harrison Argatoff is a Canadian tenor saxophonist and composer based in Toronto. A 2018 graduate of The University of Toronto’s jazz program, his music combines the study of jazz, classical, and free-improvised music to to cultivate a versatile, controlled, yet distinctly personal sound. Having grown up a Doukhobour, in the interior of British Columbia, teachings of pacifism, communal music making, and respect for life and nature deeply influence his personal and artistic endeavours.