Kyle Mechmet is a concert saxophonist and pedagogue based in South Florida. A passionate educator, Mechmet serves as Adjunct Professor of Saxophone at Florida Atlantic University. Kyle also serves as the concertmaster and resident soloist for the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches, where ticket sales from the regularly sold-out concerts go towards scholarships for students and local school music programs. He is also a Henry Mancini Fellow at the University of Miami, pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Performance with a cognate in Jazz Studies. Mechmet maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral saxophonist. He has appeared with the Palm Beach Symphony, Symphony of the Americas, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, South Florida Symphony, and Naples Philharmonic, among others. His solo engagements include premieres of works by James Syler, Joseph Holbrooke, and Michael McGlynn, as well as featured performances with the Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches, Florida Wind Symphony Jazz Orchestra, and FAU Symphony Orchestra. Internationally, he has performed at La Folle Journée Tokyo and toured Ireland with VOCALIS, and performed as part of the World Streaming Show, the multimedia highlight of the 17th World Saxophone Congress. As a chamber artist, Mechmet is a founding member of the Sawgrass Winds reed quintet and performs as the soprano saxophonist in the Frost Saxophone Quartet. His ensembles have been featured at the Fischoff Competition, Lynn University’s New Music Festival and at various international conferences. He has recorded with Hoot/Wisdom Recordings and Jeanne Inc. and collaborated with the ADAM Saxophone Quartet in Tokyo. Mechmet is a committed educator, having taught at many schools across Florida and the Midwest. His teaching engagements include artist residencies at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Bak Middle School of the Arts, and Cardinal Newman High School, university clinics across the US, and educational tours in Japan. He regularly coaches chamber groups, adjudicates juries, and prepares students for recitals, competitions, and auditions. A devoted champion of new music, Mechmet has commissioned works by Alyssa Weinberg, Marc Mellits, Jenni Watson, Gregory Wanamaker, Guillermo Lago, and others. Kyle has frequently visited Japan and hopes to help bridge the Japanese band community and US musicians and band programs. He is currently studying the Japanese language. Mechmet holds degrees from the University of Iowa (M.A.) and Florida Atlantic University (B.M.), and has studied with Dale Underwood, Kenneth Tse, Neal Bonsanti, Timothy McAllister, and Jean-Yves Fourmeau. He has attended the Université Européenne de Saxophone, American Saxophone Academy, and the Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy. Kyle performs exclusively on Henri Selmer Paris saxophones. He currently resides in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he continues to teach, perform, and mentor the next generation of saxophonists.