Department of Music

Jonathan Yanik, Adjunct Professor of Saxophone at Towson University, began teaching there in Spring 2011. A native of Simsbury, Conn., he now lives and works in Washington, DC. He earned his Master of Music in Saxophone from the University of Michigan, where he studied saxophone with Donald Sinta and Jazz saxophone with Andrew Bishop, graduating with highest academic honors. Earlier he earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree with high distinction from Indiana University, where he studied saxophone with Otis Murphy.

A versatile and enthusiastic musician, he performs on saxophone, clarinet, and flute in many different musical settings including orchestra, Jazz band/combo, chamber music, rock, and pit orchestra. Before moving to the Washington DC area, Yanik worked as a musician in the Queen’s Room Orchestra, playing Jazz, dance band, and popular styles aboard the UK owned Cunard Cruise Lines Queen Victoria. He has also been successful in competitions, most notably winning the Grand Prize in the Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition in 2008.Yanik has commissioned and premiered a number of new works for saxophone, and actively performs new music.

Yanik is currently the Principal Saxophonist and a frequent soloist with the U.S. Navy Band, the premier Wind Ensemble of the U.S. Navy, having been selected by audition in 2008 and reporting in 2009. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis, running, reading, travelling, fantasy football, and watching the Boston Celtics.