Xavier Marican is a saxophonist from Kamloops, BC, who aims to bring to life excellent performances of great music of the classical saxophone and inspire others to do the same. Marican studies music performance under Wendell Clanton at the University of Victoria.
Marican has performed as a soloist and with ensembles including the National Youth Band of Canada, Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, and the UVic Purple Quartet, receiving awards including the Rico by D’Addario Golden Reed Award and the Long & McQuade Outstanding Musicianship Award. Marican’s artistic achievements have been recognized through his participation as a finalist in competitions including the Music International Grand Prix and North American Virtuoso International Competition and as one of a winner of the 2023 UVic Concerto Competition.
Marican grew up in Kamloops, BC, where he was engaged in performing arts at a young age. He attended Beattie Elementary School of Fine Arts, which gave him an early foundation in a wide range of performance media that made Marican very comfortable on the stage. He first picked up the saxophone when he was 12 years old in the Beattie Concert Band. As he grew older, he continued to excel, gaining a reputation in the wind bands in which he performed as an anchor for the ensemble. From 2018-20, he studied with the Greater Vancouver Youth Music Academy, where he travelled an over 700 kilometre round trip from Kamloops to Vancouver and back every weekend to pursue superior musical education by playing with their Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Marican also received lessons from Nina Falcos, the artistic director of the organization, who said of him that “It is our dream as instructors to come across students like Xavier Marican. Not only are they the students who remind us of the joy of music, but they also take music to a true spiritual level.”
Marican is inspired by the desire to give performances that awe, impress, and inspire others in turn, to create a shine in the eyes of audiences and students, and to continue the great tradition of the classical saxophone that has come before him. His greatest inspiration, however, is the beauty of the saxophone, which requires no explanation.