Originally from Louisville, KY, Dr. Thomas Zinninger has worked as an active saxophonist, composer, arranger, and music educator for over 20 years. Equally comfortable performing in a number of styles, his musical experience has ranged from combo and big band jazz to chamber and orchestral classical music. Zinninger's performance credits include the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, the Kingsville Symphony Orchestra, the Frank Simon Band, the Chamber Winds of Louisville, the Blue Wisp Big Band, and the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. As a soloist, he has premiered new arrangements for the saxophone at both the World Saxophone Congress as well as North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences. Zinninger is a Yamaha Performing Artist and performs exclusively on Yamaha saxophones.
Zinninger has composed and arranged dozens of pieces for large and small jazz ensembles, as well as classical chamber groups and soloists. His works have been performed by the College-Conservatory of Music Jazz Ensemble, the Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) Jazz Bands and Combos, the TAMUK Trumpet Ensemble, the TAMUK Tuba/Euphonium ensemble, the South Texas Saxophone Orchestra, and the Wittenberg Jazz Ensemble. His published works are available through SAXpress. As an educator, Zinninger has presented numerous clinics and masterclasses across the country on topics ranging from saxophone pedagogy to jazz improvisation. He is also a published author in the Saxophone Symposium.
Zinninger is currently the Director of Jazz Studies and Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. In addition to teaching applied lessons and overseeing the saxophone studio, he directs Jazz Combo I, Jazz Band II, and the South Texas Saxophone Orchestra. He also teaches saxophone methods, and courses in jazz improvisation, theory, arranging, and pedagogy. Prior to joining the TAMUK faculty in 2018, he held the Instructor of Saxophone position at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH where he also directed the jazz ensemble and taught music appreciation. Zinninger has also served both as a graduate assistant and on the faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati, OH. Zinninger received a bachelor’s in music education from the University of Louisville, and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies and Doctor of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance from CCM.
