Jeffrey Loeffert


Jeffrey Loeffert serves as Professor and Director of the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech and Executive Director of the College Music Society. Loeffert previously served as Director of the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University. Loeffert is a very active chamber musician. As a founding member of the h2 quartet, Loeffert has won numerous chamber music prizes including First Place at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Place at the North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition, and First Place at the Union Française des Artistes Musiciens Chamber Music Competition (France), among others. Loeffert is featured on fourteen commercially available discs and a DVD, as well as on a PBS television episode of Backstage Pass. His recording of Groove Canon by Marc Mellits was recently used as the monologue theme music for the Broadway show The Heidi Chronicles, starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Jason Biggs (Orange is the New Black). Loeffert has performed at such prestigious venues as the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland; the Canker Dom in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Clowes Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana; the Guarnerius Center for the Performing Arts in Belgrade, Serbia; the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland; the Sarajevo Music Academy in Sarajevo, Bosnia; the Times Center and Merkin Hall in New York City; and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; in addition to university recital halls across the country. Loeffert graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music double major in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies. At Northwestern, Loeffert won the Program Honors Award for his graduating class. A Frank Huntington Beebe Scholar, Loeffert studied in Paris at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise where he received the Médaille d'Or à l'Unanimité - Saxophone, and the Médaille d'Or à l'Unanimité - Musique de Chambre. Loeffert also studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt where he received the diploma Cycle d'Orientation Professionnel. Loeffert completed graduate studies at Michigan State University (MSU) as the recipient of a University Distinguished Fellowship. He received a Master of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance as well as a Master of Music degree in Music Theory Pedagogy. At MSU, he was awarded the Paul Harder Award for music theory and composition. Loeffert is a Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artist and plays exclusively on Yamaha saxophones and Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures. Loeffert has performed at such prestigious venues as the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland; the Cankar Dom in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Clowes Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana; the Guarnerius Center for the Performing Arts in Belgrade, Serbia; the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland; the Sarajevo Music Academy in Sarajevo, Bosnia; the Times Center and Merkin Hall in New York City; and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; in addition to university recital halls across the country. An advocate of new music, Loeffert has premiered works by Drew Baker, Karl Blench, Jongyun Choi, Benjamin Fuhrman, Takuma Itoh, Igor Karača, David MacDonald, John Mackey, Marc Mellits, Victor Marquez-Barrios, Roger W. Petersen, David Rakowski, jesse Ronneau, Matthew Schoendorff, Amy Williams, and Daniel Wohl, among others. Loeffert graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music double major in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies. At Northwestern, Loeffert won the Program Honors Award for his graduating class. A Frank Huntington Beebe Scholar, Loeffert studied in Paris at the Conservatoire � Rayonnemnet R�gional de Cergy-Pontoise where he received the Medalle d'Or � l'Unanimit� - Saxophone, and the Medalle d'Or � l'Unanimit� - Musique de Chambre. Loeffert also studied at the Conservatoire � Rayonnement R�gional de Boulogne-Billancourt where he received the diploma Cycle d'Orientation Professionnel with an emphasis in contemporary music. Loeffert completed graduate studies at Michigan State University (MSU) as the recipient of a University Distinguished Fellowship. He received a Master of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance as well as a Master of Music degree in Music Theory Pedagogy. At MSU, he was awarded the Paul Harder Award for music theory and composition. Loeffert studied music theory under Bruce Campbell, Gordon Sly, Bruce Taggart, and Leigh Van Handel. His primary saxophone teachers include Bob Chreste, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Jean-Michel Goury, Frederick L. Hemke, Joseph Lulloff, and Scott Plugge. Loeffert has had additional studies with Jan Berry Baker, Griffin Campbell, Masahito Siguhara, and Kelland Thomas, and significant support and mentorship from David Dees and John Nichol. Loeffert is a Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artist and plays exclusively on Yamaha saxophones and Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures.

Compositions

Bombinate
0:00
Bombinate is scored for three soprano saxophones and singing bowl. The singing bowl is performed by the third soprano saxophonist. The word bombinate is a literary device, which means to make a humming or buzzing noise. The work is largely centered around concert D, which is initially sounded by the singing bowl. The saxophone parts weave in and out of this center pitch the use of mircotonal fluctuations, tone distortions, and articulative techniques. The "buzzing" noise comes from this constant sounding of a center pitch, which is at times very faint and at other times only inferred. Though the work is a meditation, it also showcases the wide range of emotions from frenetic energy to anger when we close our eyes and reflect on our surroundings.
Ten Years of Silence
0:00
Ten Years of Silence was composed for and dedicated to the h2 quartet to commemorate their tenth anniversary as a quartet. The title has a double meaning, referencing the significant influence that the members of the quartet have had on one another over the course of ten years, as well as symbolizing that this ten-year period would serve as a departure point or precursor to greater collective achievement in the future. The music highlights struggle – not necessarily in the professional interactions of the ensemble, but rather the personal struggles of working so closely together with a small group of people for an extended period of time. It highlights how the quartet fought through collective and individual shortcomings, expresses how they coped with the loss of loved ones, underscores how the quartet dealt with the challenges of working together as a single entity while simultaneously being competitors in the same field, and chronicles how the quartet grew apart and (hopefully) back together again. Above all, it references a mutual determination to persevere even through the many difficulties in life. The music is divided into ten "sections" or "movements" and is designed in such a way that performers can omit sections of their choosing should a shorter performance be desired. Though performers have the liberty of choosing which sections to play, the sections should always be performed chronologically. Dedicated to Kim, Jonathan, and Geoff – the three individuals who had the most profound influence on my life for these ten years.
Worthless
0:00
This composition serves as my musical representation of the ideas that were conveyed by Ernest Becker in the book titled The Denial of Death. Facing the nearness of death himself, Becker gifts his philosophy that human behavior is shaped by our need to deny the terror of death in a world where we all must inevitably die. For this reason, humans invest their lives searching for immortality. We create a hero system in which we will survive death by engaging in something of lasting worth. "This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings,