“Anyone who knows Rogers is aware of his vast skills in performing all kinds of music... With composing and arranging skills ahead of his time, he combines almost futuristic sounds with language of the great saxophonists that came before him.”

— Emmy Irvine, The Counterpoint

Winner of the 2025 Vandoren Emerging Artist Award, George Rogers is a saxophonist, composer, and arts administrator originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, now based in New York City. His playing and composing are rooted in the jazz tradition, occasionally extending into classical, folk, and experimental influences.

Rogers has performed nationwide at venues such as Dizzy's Club, Nublu, SFJAZZ, The Sound Room, and LIBRETTO, and at festivals including the Vail Jazz Festival, Charles River Jazz Festival, Concord Jazz Festival, and West Oakland Sound Series. He is a former student of Gary Bartz, Justin Robinson, Dann Zinn, Mary Fettig, and Alex Murzyn.

As a composer, Rogers has had works premiered by professional chamber ensembles, including HYPERCUBE and resident performers at New Music On The Point. In 2024, he was awarded a Flint Initiative Grant to compose and record EIGHT VIGNETTES for alto saxophone, which premiered in February 2025. Most recently, Rogers was commissioned by CAPACITY—a cello duo comprising Daniel Knapp and Hannah Stone—to compose Precious Seconds, a new work that explores adaptation and nostalgia by combining notated and improvisatory forms.

Rogers is also an educator and arts administrator whose work centers community engagement and access to creative music-making. Most recently, Rogers received the Gletherow-Young-Deppman Project Award in support of New Sound Lab, an experimental improvisation and composition ensemble for high school students in Northeast Ohio that launched in January 2026.

Photo by Jason Tiemann.