Zachary Bornheimer
Jazz composer and saxophonist Zachary Bornheimer’s lyrical improvisations and melody-driven compositions have sparked international and national intrigue with performances in Florida, Chicago, Italy, France, England, and terrestrial radio. Bornheimer was a 2017 Fellow at RSMI’s Program for Jazz and a Y2K Fellow at the University of South Florida, where he earned his MM in Jazz Composition.
Bornheimer’s small and large ensemble works are noted with accolades: his composition “Haunted Lullaby of the Forgotten” is one of the winners of Ravinia’s Bridges competition, he is the first 2x winner of the Owen Prize in Jazz Composition for his composition “Elegy” (2017) arrangement of Donny McCaslin’s “Henry” (which was premiered by McCaslin), and his composition “Color Shift” was both a Finalist for The 2015 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards was selected for part of the the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers’ 2017 Symposium for the New Music Workshops. Bornheimer’s has also recently worked as Associate Producer for Maria Schneider’s Grammy-Nominated Data Lords recording.
Bornheimer was a Finalist for the 2017 VSA’s International Young Soloist Award and was selected by Billy Childs, Nathan Davis, and Rufus Reid for the RSMI 2017 All Star Quintet. Bornheimer has performed with Chick Corea, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, The Four Seasons (The Modern Gentleman), and saxophonist Jack Wilkins, along with various guest artists while at USF including: Maria Schneider, Rufus Reid, Steve Houghton, Ron Blake, Donny McCaslin, Gary Smulyan, and more. Bornheimer was recently appointed instructor of Saxophone at Eckerd College.
Bornheimer is following in the footsteps of many great composers who have come before him and is working as a copyist as well. He has copied for Tom Brantley, Tommy Goodman, Chuck Owen, Maria Schneider, and others.
Bornheimer has studied composition with Chuck Owen, Dean Eaves, and Maria Schneider, saxophone primarily with Jack Wilkins, Valerie Gillespie, and took a few lessons from Ralph Bowen and Rick Margitza along the way. Bornheimer also studied flute with Valerie Gillespie and Clarinet with Brian Moorhead.