BIOGRAPHY

Austrian tenor saxophonist, composer, and musicologist Dr. Lukas Gabric has been lauded by Thomas Gansch and Joel Frahm as a “master musician” with "breathtaking tenor virtuosity," establishing himself as a notable figure in the international jazz arena. His extensive performance and educational endeavors have led him to grace stages and classrooms across the USA, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Slovenia, China, South Korea, Mongolia, Serbia, and Brazil.

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During his formative years, Dr. Gabric was selected as a member of the European Generations Unit at the biannual Festival in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, in 2012, where he received guidance from jazz luminaries Louis Hayes, Peter Washington, and David Hazeltine. In 2013, he distinguished himself as a semifinalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington D.C. The following year, his talent was recognized with the Best Soloist Award and the Audience Choice Award at the Getxo Jazz Festival in Spain, alongside a third prize in the finals of the North American Saxophone Alliance Competition in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. In 2016, Dr. Gabric was honored with an Herb Alpert Composer’s Award by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for his composition “Fire Dance.”

In 2018, he received the Cultural Distinction Award and Bruno Gironcoli Award from his hometown, Villach, facilitating the production of his album "Labor of Love," which garnered positive reviews across eight countries.

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In 2019, Lukas Gabric served as an adjudicator on the expert panel for the "New York International Contemporary Music Competition" at The Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College). His musical prowess can be heard on over ten albums and numerous recording projects. Notably, the album "Derek Bermel: Migrations" (Naxos, 2019), featuring Gabric, was GRAMMY-nominated in the category of "Best New Classical Composition" in 2020.

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Dr. Gabric earned a post-graduate Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School in New York, where he later served as a faculty member at the preparatory division from 2014 to 2021. He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from The City University of New York and served as an adjunct lecturer at The City College of New York from 2012 to 2020. He has been the recipient of scholarships, stipends, prizes, and grants totaling approximately half a million USD. In his doctoral dissertation, he delved into an analysis of the blues oeuvre of John Coltrane employing neo-Schenkerian and Formenlehre-inspired methodologies.

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Dr. Gabric has conducted masterclasses and lectures at universities worldwide, authored method books, musicological articles, and educational materials. In recognition of his contributions as an educator and mentor, he was awarded the “Extraordinary Dedication and Achievement in Teaching Distinction” by the American Protégé International Competition at Carnegie Hall in 2019, and received a “Recognition for the Contribution to the Excellence in Music Pedagogy” from the Music and Starts International Competition in 2021. Moreover, he has been organizing the Carinthian International Jazz Award since 2018 (www.carinthiajazz.com), attracting participants from 40 countries.

Dr. Gabric’s latest album "Moving On," was release through Alessa Records in early 2024. Lukas Gabric is a Henri SELMER Paris and D'Addario Woodwinds artist and associate professor at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China.