Dr. Todd Goranson, Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Bassoon and Jazz Ensemble Director,  is a native of the Pacific Northwest. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree (Saxophone and Bassoon Performance) and the Master of Music degree (Saxophone Performance) from the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree (Bassoon Performance) from West Virginia University.

Dr. Goranson's schedule for summer 2009 will include a world premiere performance at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Birmingham, UK, a performance of two Asia premieres at the World Saxophone Congress XV in Bangkok, Thaliand, and solo and chamber performances in Sweden and France.  Several of these performances will be as a member of Triforia Winds, the faculty wind trio at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Dr. Goranson performs regularly with the symphony orchestras of Irving. Plano, Texarkana and Longview.   He has also performed on the bassoon or contrabassoon with the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Shreveport Symphony (LA), Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco (Mexico), Marshall Symphony (TX), West Virginia Symphony, Kingsport Symphony (TN), Westmoreland Symphony (PA), Opera Roanoke (VA), and the Washington-Idaho Symphony.  He is the author of New Latin American Works for Bassoon (pub: TrevCo) and his articles have been published in The Double Reed, as well as the English and Dutch editions of Scrapes.   Dr. Goranson  performed at the 2008 Conference of the International Double Reed Society and the 2006 OU Clarinet Symposium. 

Dr. Goranson's recent saxophone engagements have included performances with the Dallas Wind Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Plano Symphony, Irving Symphony, and the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra.  An active saxophonist in jazz and popular idioms, Goranson has performed extensively throughout the Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, and most recently in Texas and Louisiana.  He has performed with artists including Ray Charles,  the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Lionel Hampton, Sandi Patti, and performed regularly with the Billy Price Band.  During his time in Texas, he has been a featured jazz saxophone soloist with the Plano Symphony for concerts at the Eisemann Center and Meyerson Hall, receiving praise from the Dallas Morning News.  Dr. Goranson  has taught saxophone and/or bassoon master classes at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Oklahoma State University,  and Southern Arkansas University.  He has adjudicated for state solo & ensemble competitions in Texas and Idaho, was the director/clinician of the 2007 ATSSB Region 3 All-Region Jazz Ensemble, and was recently named Interim Board Member (Jazz) for the College Music Society South Central Region.  His principal saxophone teachers include Robert Miller, Barry Bergstrom and Curtis Johnson, and his bassoon teachers have included Ronald Klimko, Terry Ewell, and Winston Collier.