Jay Byrnes

Saxophonist, Jay Byrnes, is one of the most exciting personalities in the Australian music scene.

Equally at home in the performance of transcriptions, standards and new works for saxophone, Jay has become renowned for his interpretations of music from Bach to Piazzolla and beyond. Jay is acclaimed for his dynamic stage presence and rigorous attention to stylistic performance and has become a leader in the interpretation of Latin American music for the saxophone. Jay has performed throughout Europe, South America and Australasia as both a soloist and chamber musician and has developed a reputation for being a versatile and charismatic performer.

Jay is a founding member and Baritone Saxophonist of the Nexas Quartet with whom he has performed in many of Australia’s greatest concert halls and festivals including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre and City Recital Hall, Sydney.   Jay has also performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Venezuela and as soloist with ‘Camerata’ Queensland's chamber orchestra.

Jay is featured on 5 CDs including his debut album ‘El Asunto del Tango’ (2015), ‘South-duos for saxophones’ with Niels Bijl (2017) and 4 Nexas albums, ‘Current’ (2016), ‘Ballads of the Pleasant Life’ (2018) and ‘Tango de Saxos’ (2021), Gershwin (2024).

Jay is an endorsed artist for D'Addario. He has also been a Yanagisawa Saxophones Domestic Artist in Australia since 2008 and an official Yanagisawa International Artist since 2015.