Harvey Pittel

Who is Harvey Pittel?

Harvey Pittel is an American saxophonist who performs principally in North America, and is currently the Professor of Saxophone at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music in the College of Fine Arts. Following studies as a music education major at the University of Southern California, Pittel obtained his master's degree under the tutelage of Fred Hemke at Northwestern University and subsequently studied at the Juilliard School with Joseph Allard. He performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 1973 as a winner of the Concert Artists Guild competition. He has edited the saxophone and piano reduction of the Ingolf Dahl Concerto for Saxophone and Band based on his work with Dahl during his studies at the University of Southern California. His version of the Concerto is the standard version of this piece played today, and has performed the piece under Dahl, as well as Michael Tilson Thomas and Zubin Mehta. Mr. Pittel has performed with many major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, and Austin Symphony.

Pittel has been critically acclaimed in leading newspapers and magazines by both Harold C. Schonberg and Raymond Ericson in The New York Times, Michael Steinberg in the Boston Globe, and Winthrop Sargeant in The New Yorker, and his many awards include two Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund grants, and a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist grant.