Adam Olson

About Adam

Adam Olson is a native of Traverse City, Michigan, where he grew up playing with LEGOs, waterskiing, and loving music.

A three-time Interlochen Arts Camp attendee, Olson studied saxophone at the University of Michigan with Donald Sinta, where he was simultaneously a Larry Teal Scholar and a William D. Revelli Memorial Band Scholar. In his time at Michigan, Olson held the tenor chair in Sinta’s quartet, was soloist with the Symphony Band, and performed bass saxophone with Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Most of his time was spent in the practice room, especially on game days.

A supporter of new music, Olson has premiered pieces by composers Chad Hughes, Jennifer Higdon, Pei Lu, Carter Pann, and John Berners. He has also performed with the Kirov Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, USO, ARYAO, Traverse Symphony Orchestra (and TSJO), Resounding Winds, TC Saxophone Quintet, and Traverse City Saxophone Quartet.

After college, Olson worked in various capacities in the food and beverage industry, mostly as a professional waiter and bartender. As luck would have it, he now works for Interlochen Center for the Arts in the capacity of Sustainability Project Engineer, where he handles the operations of the composting program and uses his varied skill set to design and build a variety of systems and structures for the Sustainability Department using reused materials as much as possible. In a related vein, Olson was also a wetland restoration specialist for Mama Bear LLC.

In his spare time, Olson is legal guardian for Richard Curtis, enjoys woodworking, reading, hiking, all things fiber arts, sewing, cooking, and working on being better than a somewhat tolerable human being.