Jeffrey Loeffert

co-author of "Hardline" and "Enrapture"

January 3, 2017

Jeffrey Loeffert serves as associate professor of saxophone at Oklahoma State University. A dedicated teacher, Loeffert recently received the College of Arts & Sciences Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence, the Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence, and the Friends of Music Distinguished Music Professor Award.

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 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.

The h2 quartet's audio publication "Hard Line" features an array of new compositions by American composers for saxophone quartet that were composed for the ensemble. The disc pushes the technical limits of the saxophone and features extended techniques, integrated electronic sounds, and prepared piano. A true collaborative effort with some of the most prolific contemporary composers in the United States, the disc features music by Drew Baker (Columbia College), David Biedenbender (Michigan State University), Igor Karača (Oklahoma State University), Mathew Rosenblum (University of Pittsburgh), Bill Ryan (Grand Valley State University), and Daniel Wohl.

h2 quartet's "Enrapture" is centered around the idea of wide-open spaces. The album features the openness of the Great Plains region, the enormity of mountains, the vast oceans, the limitless human mind, and the finality of death. Forrest Pierce's "The Kansas Rapture" portrays the diminishing population of small towns throughout Kansas. The composer explains "the American state of Kansas is a vortex of fundamentalist religion and spectacular, ecstatic weather. The belief in the second coming of Jesus to transport the faithful at the end of days is commonplace, here – yet it's not commonly known that they are already disappearing. The farming and ranching towns of the Kansas prairie are vanishing, and their dusty streets are returning once more to grass and sage." Gavin Bryars' "Alaric I or II" illustrates the majestic Alaric Mountain in France. Igor Karača's "Lost" depicts a vessel in distress while lost in the measureless and desolate sea. Tina Tallon's "corpus, fractum" conveys the utter limitlessness of the human mind as it breaks apart in despair, resulting in a never-ending catatonic state. Paquito D'Rivera's "A Farewell Mambo (to Willy)" is dedicated to Guillermo Alvarez Guedes and shows how the composer wishes to remember his dear friend.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2017-honorees-b/jeffrey-loeffert

Last Updated: 12 January 2022