Joan Hutton is a woodwind performer, composer and music educator residing in Minneapolis and hailing from Toronto, Canada. Her varied musical interests have led her over the years to classical, jazz, funk, free improvisation, pit orchestras and more. She is a long time member of the Ancia Saxophone Quartet, performing nationally and internationally with the group and with recordings on the Naxos and Albany labels. She also leads her own jazz groups and has released two albums on Shifting Paradigm Records featuring her original music: Take That Back (2022) and Splash (2024). Joan received her degrees in performance and education from Ithaca College (B.M.) and the Eastman School of Music (M.M.). In addition to teaching at Augsburg, Joan has a large studio of private saxophone and clarinet students. In her teaching, she encourages students to explore as broad a range of styles as desired while developing a solid foundation through the study of standard repertoire, etudes and scales.