Eugene Rousseau has established himself as one of  the leading saxophone performers and pedagogues in the world today. Currently a member of the artist faculty of the School of Music at the University of Minnesota, he is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  His many students have distinguished themselves as university professors and superb performers throughout the world.  He has received prestigious guest professor appointments at the Paris Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik of Vienna, Arizona State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska, and  the University of North Texas. In 2007 he was named McKay Artist in Residence at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. In addition, Rousseau holds the title of Honorary Professor at the Prague Conservatory and at the Instituto G. Braga of Italy.  Eugene Rousseau has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras throughout the world, including The Minnesota Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, the Indianapolis Symphony under Raymond Leppard and Phillpe Entremont, the BBC Orchestra of London, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Prague Symphony, the Janáček Philharmonic (Czech Republic), the Kansai Philharmonic of Osaka, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra,  and the Austrian Radio Orchestra. He has presented numerous solo and chamber music recitals throughout the world and North America.  In 1993 he performed the first ever saxophone recital at the Mozarteum Conservatory of Salzburg.  That same year he presented the first saxophone performance at the famous Prague Spring Festival.  His performances have been heard  on NPR’s Performance Today, on Adventures in Good Music with Karl Haas, and has been interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition.

In 1969 Rousseau co-founded the World Saxophone Congress, the first such organization for an individual instrument, considered by many to be a major turning point in establishing credibility for the saxophone as a serious medium of musical expression. During 2005 Rousseau served as President of the Organizing Committee for the World Saxophone Congress XIII, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The North American Saxophone Alliance honored him with its highest award – Honorary Life Membership.

Born in Blue Island, Illinois in 1932, Eugene Rousseau attended the Chicago Musical College, Northwestern University, and earned the Ph.D. in Music Literature and Peformance at the University of Iowa, where his principal teacher was Dr. Himie Voxman.  In 1960 Rousseau was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study the saxophone with Marcel Mule at the Paris Conservatory.  During this time Rousseau also had the opportunity to study wind acoustics with the eminent Charles Houvenaghel.  In 1963 he was appointed as the musical representative for the International Trade Fair in Conakry, Guinea, West Africa.  The following year, 1964, he was appointed to the faculty of the School of Music at Indiana University, where he taught for 36 years. While at Indiana, his interest in the acoustics of the saxophone continued to grow and was, for twenty years, the chief consultant for saxophone research and development for the Yamaha Corporation of Japan. 
 

Rousseau has to his credit a large number of publications, including:

Marcel Mule: His Life and the Saxophone (English and French)
The E. Rousseau Beginning Saxophone Method (English, German, Japanese)
 Saxophone High Tones  (English, French, German)
 In addition, he has had many transcriptions published for saxophone performance,
and has many recordings to his credit.   

As and adjudicator Professor Rousseau has served on the juries of many prestigious music completions, including:

Adolphe Sax International Competition-Dinant, Belgium
British Clarinet and Saxophone Competition
Japan Wind and Percussion Competition
ARD Munich International Clarinet Competition, 1987
ARD Munich International Flute Competition , 1990
ARD Munich International Oboe Competition, 1991 (Chairman of the Jury)
ARD Munich International Clarinet Competition, 1992 (Chairman of the Jury)
ARD Munich International Saxophone Competition, 2001
Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition
Coleman Chamber Music Competition.

Press

“I enjoy listening to classical saxophone players. I particularly admire Eugene Rousseau.”
– Michael Brecker, from interview with Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London

“Rousseau has a huge dynamic range, a bagful of articulations, and, above all, intelligence and good judgment.  He put his considerable technique and command of nuance to sober musical use.”
– New York Times

“In the hands of Eugene Rousseau, the saxophone becomes a facile and beautifully modulated wind instrument, capable of fine song and great flexibility.”
– Washington Post

“He shapes the most difficult parts with casual brilliance.”
– Wiener Zeitung, Vienna

“Masterful performance, technically brilliant and musically perfect.”
– Music News, Prague

“There are players with technique who can play virtually anything, there are players who produce a good resonant tone in sympathy with the potential of the instrument, and there are players who know how to play music.  Eugene Rousseau is one of that rare breed who combines all of these and consequently reminds us of the power and beauty of music.”
– Clarinet and Saxophone, London