Frederick Hemke contributed to raising the recognition of the classical saxophone in solo, chamber, and major orchestral repertoire throughout the world.
19 Facts About Frederick Hemke
1.
2.
For half a century, from 1962 to 2012, Frederick Hemke was a full-time faculty member at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.
3.
From 1955 to 1956, Frederick Hemke studied saxophone with Marcel Mule at the Paris Conservatoire National de Musique et de Declamation, earning in 1956 the Premier Prix diploma.
4.
Frederick Hemke holds the distinction of being the first American saxophonist to earn a Premier Prix diploma from the Paris Conservatory.
5.
At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Frederick Hemke studied with Jay Morton, teacher of woodwinds.
6.
Frederick Hemke did not have a formal saxophone teacher at Eastman, but while there, studied reeds with clarinetist Stanley Hasty, flute repertoire with Joseph Mariano, and oboe repertoire with Robert Sprenkle.
7.
Frederick Hemke taught saxophone at Northwestern's School of Music for fifty years.
8.
In 1967 Frederick Hemke was elevated to associate professor; on September 1,1975, Full Professor; and on September 1,1991, chairman of the Department of Music Performance Studies at the School of Music.
9.
Frederick Hemke served as senior associate dean for administration in the School of Music from 1995 to 2001.
10.
In 2002, Frederick Hemke was named the Louis and Elsie Snydacker Eckstein Professor of Music and named associate dean emeritus of the School of Music.
11.
Frederick Hemke was an artist-clinician for The Selmer Company, the North American distributor of saxophones made in France by the Paris firm, Henri Selmer Paris.
12.
In 1979 Frederick Hemke was host for the Sixth World Saxophone Congress held at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
13.
Frederick Hemke was known worldwide as one of the great classical saxophonists.
14.
Frederick Hemke has appeared extensively as a solo artist and has given master classes and lectures in the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, and the Far East.
15.
Frederick Hemke performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras.
16.
Frederick Hemke premiered several works for saxophone, including Allan Pettersson's Symphony No 16 and James Di Pasquale's Sonata for tenor saxophone.
17.
Frederick Hemke decided to spend time focusing on the tenor saxophone as a classical solo instrument, as evidenced by the release of his 1971 solo album Music for Tenor Saxophone.
18.
Frederick Hemke was a primary design consultant for the S-80 mouthpiece manufactured by Henri Selmer Paris, and he used a custom version of it on alto saxophone.
19.
Frederick Hemke was a design consultant for the Selmer Mark VII E alto and B tenor saxophones, introduced in 1974.