Dr. Jeffrey Loeffert is the Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Oklahoma State University. During the summer months, Loeffert teaches at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan and Cortona Sessions for New Music in Cortona, Italy.
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, North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition, Union Française des Artistes Musiciens Chamber Music Competition (France), Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition in Michigan, Northwestern University Chamber Music Competition, and Michigan State University Concerto Competition. Loeffert has also been a finalist in the Concert Artists Guild Competition, Chesapeake Bay Chamber Music Competition, Plowman Chamber Music Competition, and Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Loeffert is featured on multiple commercially available discs and a DVD, as well as on a PBS television episode of Backstage Pass, which offers viewers a first-hand look at the inner workings of a top-flight chamber ensemble through live, in-studio performances and interviews with the ensemble members.
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. He has also performed in 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 Karaca, David MacDonald, John Mackey, Marc Mellits, Victor Marquez-Barrios, Roger W. Petersen, David Rakowski, Jesse Ronneau, Matthew Schoendorff, Amy Williams, Daniel Wohl, and many others.
Loeffert graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music double major in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies. At Northwestern, he 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 Medalle d'Or à l’Unanimité - Saxophone and the Medalle 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 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. His primary saxophone teachers include Bob Chreste, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Jean-Michel Goury, Frederick L. Hemke, Joseph Lulloff, and Scott Plugge.
Loeffert is a Yamaha and Rico Performing Artist, and plays exclusively on Yamaha saxophones and Rico reeds.
