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FRh2/4 duo performance
Website(s) : http://jeffreyloeffert.com / http://jonathannichol.com
Saxophone duo h2/4 presents three short pieces for two saxophones, including a world premiere by D. McDonald and the premiere of a transcription of a flute duo by F. Pierce.
Biography
As members of the h2 quartet, Loeffert and Nichol have won numerous chamber music prizes including First Place – Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and First Place at the North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition. The h2 quartet is featured on five commercially-available discs and received an Aaron Copland grant for their sophomore effort, Times & Spaces. The h2 quartet was also featured on a nationally-syndicated PBS television episode of Backstage Pass.
h2 created the h2/4 duo in 2015 to function as a satellite ensemble of that group.
Jeff Loeffert and Jonathan Nichol are Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artistsand perform exclusively on Yamaha instruments and Vandoren reeds, ligatures, and mouthpieces.
More information
The h2/4 duo proposes three short works for two saxophones to be premiered/performed at the 2015 World Saxophone Congress. Our mission is to develop, through commissioning and transcribing, exciting new repertoire for this common instrumentation.
Takuma Itoh’s work Neon Flicker was inspired by the composers late night drives through downtown Detroit where he noticed many partially working neon signs that would flicker with short bursts of energy. Neon Flicker work is written for soprano saxophone and alto saxophone. Takuma is an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Hawaii. His work for saxophone quartet, Echolocation, won the Leo Kaplan ASCAP award for best new composition. This work was commissioned by h2 quartet.
David McDonald, Professor of Music Technology and Composition at Full Sail University, is writing a new piece to be premiered at the 2015 World Saxophone Congress. David’s music is innovative, transcends genre boundaries and, is often influenced by jazz music. The instrumentation for this commissioned work with be for two alto saxophones. The h2/4 duo is confident, based on David’s previous work, that he will write an outstanding piece for two alto saxophone.
The final piece on our proposal is Oh My Dove, a transcription of a work by Forrest Pierce, who teaches composition at the University of Kansas. The composer describes his music as sincere, often triadic, and blatantly tuneful, it draws on both non-western and rock-era traditions to depict an authentic world of sacred unity and natural beauty. Oh My Dove was originally composed for two flutes, we will premier the two saxophone version. The composer will create the transcription.
We believe that these three contrasting works complement each other and, if selected, will be an artistic and enjoyable addition to the 2015 World Saxophone Congress. Thank you for your consideration.