Born in Melbourne Australia, Michael Duke completed his Bachelor of Music degree with honors at Melbourne University’s Victorian College of the Arts under the instruction of saxophonist Graeme Shilton. He received both Master’s and Doctorate Degrees in Music Performance from Indiana University studying under the tutelage of renowned classical saxophonists Eugene Rousseau, Thomas Walsh, Jean-Yves Fourmeau and Arno Bornkamp. While pursuing jazz studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, Duke studied with Shannon LeClaire, Jim Odgren and George Garzone and performed in the ensembles of Phil Wilson, Greg Hopkins, Victor Mendoza, and Joe Lovano.
Throughout Australia and abroad, Duke has engaged in an extensive performance career. He has performed with many of Australia’s premiere orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony, Orchestra Victoria, the Australian Philharmonic and Pops Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In the United States he has performed with the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra (Kentucky), the Camerata Symphony Orchestra (Indiana), the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and the Cedar Rapids Symphony (Iowa). In the spring of 2002 Duke won the Indiana University Woodwind Concerto Competition for his performance of Jacques Ibert’s “Concertino da camera” for alto saxophone and orchestra. On the national and world stages he has been invited to perform at numerous North American Saxophone Alliance National conferences, two World Saxophone Congresses, and has lectured at the Australian National Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 2010 Duke was a featured artist at the prestigious International Society for Contemporary Music World New Music Days conference in Sydney, Australia where he presented two concerts of new music for saxophone.
As a freelance musician in the Boston area, Duke has backed such varied artists as Gloria Estefan, The Four Tops, Bill Cosby and Gary Burton. He has also performed with the Danilo Perez Big Band, the Jim Widner Big Band, and the Greg Hopkins Big Band.
In addition to being active as a clinician and tutor, Duke has taught on the faculty of Simpson College in Iowa (2002-2005), Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts (2007-2008), and as an Associate Instructor at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (1998-2000). Beginning in July 2008, Duke commenced his appointment as the first ever full-time classical saxophone lecturer in Australia at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney University. He currently also holds the role of Chair of the Woodwind Unit.
Due for release early 2011, Duke’s debut solo CD with pianist David Howie “Australian Portrait” features newly commissioned works by some of the nation’s most preeminent composers.