Since its formation in 2019, The Palmetto Saxophone Quartet has been thrilling audiences with its dynamic performances. The group is comfortable in any setting, whether exploring new repertoire, delivering unique and profound performances of classic and forgotten scores, or nurturing the next generation of musicians through clinics and masterclasses. They have performed throughout the United States, and have premiered works by David Kirkland Garner and Om Srivastava. The ensemble consists of four world-renowned artists: Soprano saxophonist Clifford Leaman, alto saxophonist Sheldon Johnson, tenor saxophonist Andrew J. Allen, and baritone saxophonist Matthew Castner.
Carolina Distinguished Professor of Saxophone at the University of South Carolina, Clifford Leaman received the Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Lebanon Valley College, and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in performance from the University of Michigan where he was a student of Donald Sinta. He has taught at the collegiate level for over forty years, and served on the faculties of Furman University, Eastern Michigan University, and The University of Michigan prior to his appointment at the University of South Carolina in the Fall of 2000. Hailed as “an artist of the first order...intuitive, exciting, and enthralling." (Paul Wagner, The Saxophone Journal) "The range of colors is impressive..." (Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide).
Leaman is in great demand as a soloist and clinician and has performed and taught throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, France, Slovenia, Sweden, Australia, Columbia, Croatia, Thailand, Taiwan, and in China where he was a featured guest artist eleven times. He has performed as a concerto soloist with the ShenZhen Symphony Orchestra, at the XII and XV World Saxophone Congresses, and the North American Saxophone Alliance’s 2006 and 2014 Biennial Conferences and the 2008 International Navy Band Symposium in Washington D.C. A long-time member of the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), he has served the organization in a variety of ways, including hosting the 2003 Region 7 and 2008 Biennial Conferences. He served as President of the organization, and was elected an Honorary Life Member (the Alliance’s highest honor) in 2026.
Leaman has performed concerts throughout the world and has released four critically acclaimed compact discs of works for saxophone and piano on the Equilibrium label. Leaman has also performed extensively with percussionist Scott Herring, giving concerts and masterclasses throughout the world since 2005 when they formed the RoseWind Duo. Their debut compact disc recording, Release, (EQ-92) features works for alto saxophone and marimba; and their subsequent recording Devils Garden/Angels Landing (EQ-161) features seven works written for and dedicated to the duo. His most recent recording, Traces, includes five newly commissioned works for two saxophones and features Joseph Lallo (saxophone) and Peter de Jager (piano). (Soundset Recordings – SR 1143) He has given masterclasses at major schools of music and conservatories world-wide, including Northwestern, Eastman, Michigan, Duquesne, Bowling Green, Georgia, North Texas, Florida State, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt, Conservatoire de Strasbourg, the Royal Academy of Music (Stockholm), Beijing Central Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, and the Sichuan Conservatory.
An avid supporter of contemporary music, Leaman has commissioned and given the world premiere performances of numerous works, including concertos by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, and Michael Colgrass. His recording of the Bassett with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra is available through Equilibrium Records (EQ-63), and his recording of the Ingolf Dahl Concerto is available on the Summit label (DCD 702). Leaman is an artist-clinician for D’Addario and the Conn-Selmer Company, Inc., and he performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and D’Addario Reserve reeds.
As an active soloist, Dr. Sheldon Johnson has presented performances at the North American Saxophone Alliance’s Biennial Conference, the College Music Society’s Regional Conference, as soloist with the Bowling Green State University Philharmonia, the Roanoke Youth Symphony Orchestra, and in many other public recitals and concerts. As a chamber musician, Dr. Johnson has performed as part of the St. Olavfestdagene in Trondheim, Norway, the United States Navy Band’s International Saxophone Symposium, the Treetops Chamber Music Society’s concert series, the University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure concert series, and as part of a film project with artist Matthew Barney.
Dr. Johnson teaches saxophone at Radford University. He holds a BM from Northwestern University, an MM from Bowling Green State University, and a DMA from the University of South Carolina. His teachers include David Jacobsen, Frederick L. Hemke, John Sampen, and Clifford Leaman. He is a Conn-Selmer and Key Leaves endorsing artist.
Saxophone soloist, chamber musician, researcher, and pedagogue Andrew J. Allen has premiered more than two dozen works for his instrument from such composers as François Rossé, Robert Lemay, Fang Man, Jesse Jones, Greg Simon, and Jay Batzner. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble, the Oklahoma State University Chamber Orchestra, the University of Arkansas Wind Symphony, and the Georgia College & State University Orchestra. Allen has also performed as a recitalist throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Croatia. His recordings include Step Inside: New American Music for Saxophone and Percussion and The Avenging Spirit, both on the Equilibrium label, and he is a featured soloist on Spring Shadows: Electronic Solo Works by Anne Neikirk on Ravello Records. Throughout his career, he has garnered considerable critical acclaim: The Instrumentalist has lauded Allen as “a master of all sizes of saxophone,” while The Saxophonist has hailed his "virtuosic saxophone performance,” and The Saxophone Symposium has cited his “complete control of the instrument.”
Allen is one of the most active scholars and public pedagogues of the saxophone today. He was a contributing author to The Legacy of Elise Hall: Contemporary Perspectives on Gender and the Saxophone from Leuven University Press, and he has written for The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, The Saxophone Symposium, College Music Symposium, The NACWPI Journal, The American Music Teacher, JazzEd, and School Band and Orchestra. Allen’s transcriptions and arrangements are available through Dorn Publications and Lovebird Music. In addition, he has presented clinics across the country, including at the state music education conventions of Georgia, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, and he has given masterclasses and lectures at some of the most prestigious schools of music in the United States, including the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Bowling Green State University, Duquesne University, and Shenandoah Conservatory, among many others. He is assistant editor of The Saxophone Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of The North American Saxophone Alliance.
Andrew J. Allen is an Associate Professor of Music at Georgia College & State University, where he teaches saxophone and directs the jazz ensemble. He also serves as President of the North American Saxophone Alliance. His previous academic appointments include positions at Midwestern State University, Valley City State University, and Claflin University. Allen’s students have performed at the United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the American Single Reed Summit, national and regional conferences of The North American Saxophone Alliance, and at the state music education association conventions of Georgia and Texas. He was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Georgia College & State University College of Arts and Sciences’s Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2024-2025 GCSU College of Arts and Sciences’s Excellence in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, and the 2025 Georgia College & State University institution-wide Excellence in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. He has also been recognized as both an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and as a Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate. Allen is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician and a Vandoren Performing Artist, and he performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and Vandoren mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures.
Saxophonist Dr. Matthew Castner enjoys a varied career as a performer and educator based in Boise, Idaho. Currently Dr. Castner serves as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Boise State University. Previous faculty appointments include Winthrop University, the University of South Carolina Aiken, Presbyterian College, South Carolina State University, and the University of South Carolina.
Recent performance highlights include a trip to Moscow, Russia to perform James Whitbourn’s Son of God Mass with the Ex Oriente Lux Chamber Choir, a collaborative performance with inmates at the Lee Correctional Institute, and a saxophone quartet tour of Helsinki, Finland. He is also a regular performer at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences, as well as the International Saxophone Symposium. As an orchestral performer he has appeared with the Augusta Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Florence Symphony, and Longview (TX) Symphony.
As a chamber musician, Matthew is a founding member of the horn/saxophone duo PIVOT, a group dedicated to promoting perspective shifts in their audiences through exposure to newly commissioned works. Their debut album terraform is now streaming on all major platforms.
Dr. Castner holds graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina (DMA) and Stephen F. Austin State University (MM). He earned dual undergraduate degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Music at Case Western Reserve University, utilizing the joint program with the Cleveland Institute of Music. His primary instructors include Dr. Clifford Leaman, Dr. Nathan Nabb, Greg Banaszak and Jeremy Williamson.