About
Dr. Dan Phipps is a saxophonist and educator based in Atlanta, GA. An advocate for the performance of new works, Dan has had an active role in the creative process of works for chamber ensemble and solo saxophone by composers such as Badie Khaleghian, Kyle Grimm, and Luis McDougal, among others. As the baritone saxophonist in Mixed Media, Dan recently premiered five new student compositions during a residency with the University of Georgia composition studios. Additionally, he has attended summer festivals dedicated to new music as a performer participant, such as the SPLICE Institute and New Music on the Point, where he worked with esteemed composers Amy Beth Kirsten, Amy Williams, Susie Ibarra, and Elliott Sharp on performances of their work.
Dan has received many accolades as a solo and chamber performer, winning concerto competitions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Georgia. He has also won the Georgia and Massachusetts MTNA Young Artist Woodwind Solo competitions and received an honorable mention in the Eastern Regional competition. As tenor saxophonist of the Athena Quartet, he was semifinalist at the North American Saxophone Alliance 2018 Conference. Dan currently is the baritone saxophonist of the award-winning Mixed Media saxophone quartet. Mixed Media will release the first studio recording of Carlos Simon's Catch on Fire in Spring 2025. As a frequent collaborator with the Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective (ATLCMC), he has established himself as an in-demand performer within Atlanta’s contemporary music scene. In March 2025, Dan will perform Badie Khaleghian’s Debilitator concerto for alto saxophone and chamber orchestra, a work he premiered in 2019.
As an educator, Dan has taught saxophone to students of various levels and ages. In 2019-2021, he served as a saxophone instructor at the UGA Summer Music Institute. During his Master of Music studies, Dan taught Freshman Aural Skills, for which he won UGA’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2019. Currently, Dan works with various middle and high school band students in the Atlanta metro area including those at Creekview High School (Canton, GA), Griffin Middle School (Smyrna, GA), Lassiter High School (Marietta, GA), Lost Mountain Middle School (Powder Springs, GA), Lovinggood Middle School (Powder Springs, GA) and Hillgrove High School (Powder Springs, GA). He serves as a saxophone instructor for the Hillgrove Music Institute.
Dan hold a Doctor of Musical Arts (minor in music theory) and Master of Music degree from the University of Georgia, studying under Dr. Connie Frigo and Dr. Brandon Quarles. He holds a Bachelor of Music in performance, where he studied under Jonathan Hulting-Cohen, Lynn Klock, Joe D'Aleo, and Dr. Felipe Salles (jazz).
