2026 Arkansas Saxophone Workshop

Canadian American saxophonist Jan Berry Baker has performed as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician on many of the world’s great stages.  Recent engagements include performances across the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, France, Germany, Scotland, England, Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. She has been featured as a concerto soloist with orchestras in Canada, Ukraine, USA, and most recently with the Sinfonica de Oaxaca in Mexico.

An advocate of contemporary music, Jan is Co-Artistic Director and saxophonist with Atlanta-based new music ensemble Bent Frequency. Founded in 2003, Bent Frequency brings the avant-garde to life through adventurous and socially conscious programming, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and community engagement. Committed to exploding marginalized programming in classical music, one of BF’s primary goals is championing music by women, composers of color and LGBTQIA+. In the last few years, she and Co-Artistic Director and percussionist Stuart Gerber have formed the Bent Frequency Duo Project. Together, they have commissioned over 50 new works for saxophone and percussion and have given countless performances of these works across the USA, Mexico, and Europe including their Carnegie Hall debut in 2016. Their work to fund the creation, performance and recording of new music has been supported by numerous national and international grants such as the Copland Foundation, French American Cultural Exchange (FACE), Barlow Foundation, Amphion Foundation, Ditson Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (National Endowment for the Arts/Andrew Mellon Foundation), and Culture Ireland to name a few.

Jan regularly performs with orchestras such as the LA Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet and has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Chicago Chamber Players, and American Ballet Theater. She can be heard on American Orchestral Works with Grant Park Orchestra (Cedille), The Golden Ticket with the Atlanta Opera (Albany), The BF Duo Project recording Diamorpha (Centaur), Citizens of Nowhere featuring works for clarinet and saxophone (Albany) and is a featured performer on John Liberatore’s Line Drawings (Albany) and Robert Scott Thompson’s Folio, Vol.1, Vol. 2 and Solace (Aucourant).  

As an artist and educator, Jan has held residencies at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), Nürnberg Tage Aktueller Musik, Sam Houston State New Music Festival (TX), Charlotte New Music Festival, University of Georgia, New Music on the Point (VT) and Dakota Chamber Music Festival. She is highly sought after as a masterclass teacher and speaker, and has given presentations on contemporary music, entrepreneurship, nonprofits and grant writing, community engagement, socially conscious programming, career development and mentoring at major schools of music across the country.

Dr. Baker is Professor of Saxophone and Woodwind Area Head at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Department of Music and Special Assistant to the Dean for Faculty Mentoring.  Prior academic appointments include Georgia State University, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Northwestern University and University of Alberta.  She studied with Frederick L. Hemke, William H. Street and Barbara Lorenz and earned a Doctor of Music degree in saxophone performance from Northwestern University. She is a founding member of the Committee on Gender Equity in the North American Saxophone Alliance and served as the inaugural leader of the CGE Mentoring Program.  Jan Berry Baker is a Selmer Paris, Vandoren, and Key Leaves performing artist.

Dr. Sarah Hetrick (she/her) is a saxophonist and educator based in Northwest Arkansas. A fierce advocate for her students and their interests, Hetrick serves as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Arkansas where she engages with the Saxophone Studio in applied instruction, saxophone pedagogy, chamber music, and more. Hetrick is frequently invited to teach and perform at schools and workshops throughout the United States, including the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota, Baylor University, the Great Plains Saxophone Workshop, and others. 

In her collaborations and programming, Hetrick often curates narratives that focus on the work and lives of women at the intersection of music and art. Hetrick maintains an active schedule as a solo and chamber musician, performing as a member of the sjel duo, Duo Oenomel, the Lyrique Quintette, and more. Hetrick is an avid performer of new music and has commissioned over 40 new works by composers Alexandra Gardner, Katahj Copley, Viet Cuong, and others. Hetrick has performed as a soloist with the University of Central Arkansas Wind Ensemble and The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, and has performed with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith Symphony. 

 Ever curious about the ubiquity and sexualization of the saxophone, Hetrick’s research explores gender, iconography of the saxophone, and the effects of both on practicing saxophonists. Hetrick’s research is published in Contemporary Perspectives on the Legacy of Elise Hall (1853-1924) by Cornell University Press (US) and Leuven University Press (Belgium), and she has lectured throughout the United States on her paper, “He puts the pep in the party”: Gender and the Saxophone in Early-Twentieth-Century American Advertisements. Hetrick enjoys engaging with the innovative work of saxophonists as a reviewer for the Saxophone Symposium Journal.  

 Hetrick has been awarded a Presser Grant, PEO Scholar Award, and a Rainwater Grant for Innovation. Hetrick previously served as Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M International University and holds both a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and a Master of Music degree in Saxophone Performance from The University of Texas at Austin. She has completed additional study at Université Européene de Saxophone in Gap, France. 

 Hetrick performs exclusively on Yamaha Custom EX soprano and alto saxophones, D’Addario Reserve Reeds, and a Rousseau NC4 mouthpiece. Hetrick is proud to be both a Yamaha and Rousseau Artist.