Paul Alexander Lessard is a composer, saxophonist, educator, and man with way too many toques. Armed with a sharp musical wit, Dr. Lessard has developed a unique language that juxtaposes the rhythmic and the lyrical, the serious and the zany, and the absurd and the sensible. A key component to his technique is treating the physical movement involved with performing as a controllable musical parameter, leading to works that provide innovative challenges for the performers that dare attempt them – a growing list which currently includes chamber groups from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, pianist Stephanie Chua, the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, tubist Ian Feenstra, and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire (UK) Saxophone Choir.
As a saxophonist, Dr. Lessard has played across North America and Europe, including solo recitals at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences and the 2019 Word Saxophone Congress in Zagreb. Dedicated to the promotion of new music, he has worked with a growing number of composers to bring their works to international audiences, recently giving the North American premiere of Piet Swerts’s Horta Suite, as well as the European and Canadian premieres of Avner Dorman’s Suite for Solo Saxophone.
Dr. Lessard joined the faculty at East Tennessee State University in the fall of 2022, teaching music theory and composition. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto, University of Florida and Gettysburg College. His primary composition teachers were Gary Kulesha, James Paul Sain, Paul Richards, and Avner Dorman. He lives with his partner and their “oh-my-God-she’s-so-adorable” puppy dog, Luna.