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 compositional language built on juxtapositions of musical style and absurd over-the-top showmanship. His recent works engage with recent scholarship on performative effort, treating the physical difficulty of performance as a musical parameter, leading to works that provide innovative challenges for the performers that dare attempt them – a growing list which currently includes the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire Saxophone Choir, the new music duo Slair, and a litany of soloists including soprano Midori Marsh, pianist Stephanie Chua, tubist Ian Feenstra, and saxophonist Brendan Catalano.

As a saxophonist, Dr. Lessard has performed across North America and Europe in genres ranging from classical and jazz to funk and punk. He has appeared as a soloist alongside concert bands, orchestras, and choirs, and has given numerous solo and chamber recitals, including at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences and the World Saxophone Congresses in Zagreb (2018) and Las Palmas de Gran Canaría (2023). His efforts to promote new music have led to premieres of several works, by composers including Avner Dorman, Piet Swerts, Paul Richards, and Dr. Lessard himself.

Dr. Lessard joined East Tennessee State University in the fall of 2022, teaching music theory and composition. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto (D.M.A., Music Composition), the University of Florida (M.M., Music Performance and Composition), and Gettysburg College (B.S., Physics and Music). 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” dog, Luna.