08/26/2026
We are excited to announce the appointment of our new Saxophone Instructor, Dr. Andrew Gaffey!
Equally at home in the music of Monteverdi and Berio and hailed for his “brilliant playing …conveyed with admirable subtlety” (The News-Gazette) and “control over soft dynamics and sustained vitality” (Smile Politely), Indiana based musician Andrew Gaffey is rapidly establishing himself as a saxophonist, educator, and conductor at the international level.
Performance engagements have taken him throughout the United States and abroad, with recent appearances at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Germany, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Indiana State University, the University of Central Arkansas, the Florida State University Festival of New Music, the Napoleon Electronic Music Festival, the International Saxophone Symposium, and national and regional North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences.
Devoted to collaboration with composers and sharing new music, Andrew has worked directly with composers including Georges Aperghis, Marcos Balter, Emma Cardon, Christopher Cerrone, Donnacha Dennehy, and José Luis Hurtado on their music for saxophone. He was a founding member of the Vanderbilt Contemporary Music Ensemble and also performed with Polymorphia, the resident new music ensemble at Florida State University.
A dedicated teacher, Gaffey will serve as Instructor of Saxophone at Indiana State University beginning in fall 2026 and maintains a private studio. In the past, he has served on faculty as Instructor of Saxophone at Illinois Wesleyan University and on summer faculties at the University of Central Arkansas, Illinois State University, and the University of Illinois. He holds the Doctor of
Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature with a cognate in Musicology from the University of Illinois, where he was the Saxophone Teaching Assistant, was a University Fellow, and was named the 2026 Krannert Center Debut Artist. He holds additional degrees from Florida State University and the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. His teachers include Nicki Roman, Debra Richtmeyer, Geoffrey Deibel, Brian Utley, and Jeff Coffin.
