Gavin Brennan aims to showcase the saxophone as a versatile classical instrument by developing and performing a unique repertoire comprised of both classical and contemporary music. Gavin has been nominated for The Irish Free Masons Young Musician of the Year Award 2013. The contemporary music ensemble, Concorde, selected Gavin as the ‘Up Close Performer 2013’. Gavin performed on alto, soprano and tenor saxophones solo works with electronics and the Irish premiere of a duo with cellist Adrian Mantu at the Royal Hybernian Art Gallery as part of Concorde 's Up Close with Music concert series. With duo partner, pianist Aileen Cahill, Gavin has received the newly created ‘Rising Stars Award’ and is looking forward to collaborating and performing with the internationally reknowned ConTempo String Quartet in 2014. Gavin's saxophone quartet, Quintessential Sax, has been selected as the Galway Music Residency 'Apprentice Ensemble 2013'. The quartet will be mentored by ConTempo and will give a series of concerts with the string quartet throughout 2013 and 2014. In 2013 Gavin toured internationally with the European Youth Wind Orchestra under the baton of Jan Cober. Gavin has also performed regularly with the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble since 2010. Gavin performed as a soloist in 2012 with DIT Wind Ensemble and DIT Symphony Orchestra. He also performed at the National Concert Hall in 2013 with his sax quartet, Quintessential Sax, the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, DIT Symphony Orchestra, and DIT Wind Ensemble. Gavin receives chamber music coaching from the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet and is one of six young musicians selected for the RTE Concert Orchestra mentoring scheme and is looking forward to performing with them in Autumn 2013. Gavin recently completed a Bachelor of Music Performance degree at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Under the tutelage Kevin Hanafin he obtained 1st class honours, came first in his class and was awarded the Michael McNamara Gold Medal for Excellence in Performance. Gavin began studying classical saxophone in 2001 with Kevin’s father Tim Hanafin and enrolled in DIT as a part-time student in 2002. He has won numerous in-house competitions including the Briscoe Cup for Senior Performance in 2013. Gavin has been a prizewinner in several Feis Ceoil competitions at national level including the Contemporary Irish Music Cup in 2011. As a consequence of winning the Senior Saxophone competition in 2010 he was invited to play in a concert featuring outstanding prizewinners at the National Concert Hall later the same year. In 2012 Gavin was a finalists in the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarships, and a semi-finalist in The Irish Freemason’s Young Musician of the Year competition. Gavin is currently based in Dublin and his arrangements of solo, chamber and ensemble works for the saxophone have been performed in various concert settings in Ireland.