h2 quartet

A Washington, D.C. native, Geoffrey Deibel is emerging as an important voice for the saxophone and contemporary music. He maintains a multi-faceted career as performer, teacher, and researcher.  Geoff's performances as soloist and chamber musician have taken him around the United States and across the globe.  He has appeared at the Internationale Ferienkurse Für Neue Musik, Darmstadt, the International Iannis Xenakis Festival in Athens, Greece, the XV World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, and was invited for a residency at University College Cork, Ireland.  Most recently, he has been a regular guest at the Drake University New Music Series and Chamber Music Midwest.

Geoff has commissioned new works by many of todays top young composers, including Jesse Ronneau, Claudio Gabriele, Drew Baker, David Rakowski, and Nathan Davis. He has also premiered the works of important composers such as Hans Thomalla, Marc Mellits, Jagoda Szmytka, Amy Williams, Elliott Sharp, Hiroyki Itoh, and Mari Takano, and has worked with Bernard Rands, Howard Sandroff, and Christopher Adler, among many others.  Geoff has been frequently featured on the New Music Chicago and Soundfield series in Chicago.

Geoff is a member of the critically acclaimed h2 quartet, a first prize winner at the Fischoff Competition and recent recipient of an Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant.  The group has been hailed by American Record Guide as "an ensemble to watch for years to come."  h2 has two recordings available (Generations and Times & Spaces) with a third on the way, and has recently formed a non-profit organization to promote the creation of new works for the saxophone quartet.  Geoff is also a seasoned orchestral performer, appearing with the New World Symphony (Miami) and  Grant Park Symphony (among others), and has worked with conductors such as Roberto Abbado and HK Gruber.

Geoff holds degrees in history and music from Northwestern University, and a doctoral degree from Michigan State University.  His doctoral thesis focuses on the structural/post-structural dialectic in the narrative codes used by Roland Barthes and their potential use in contemporary music analysis.  His principal teachers have included Joseph Lulloff, Frederick Hemke, Leo Saguiguit, and Reginald Jackson. Geoff has taught at Grand Valley State University and Alma College , and currently serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Florida.  He is endorsed by Rico Reeds, on which he performs exclusively.