Carrie Koffman

Carrie Koffman is Professor of Saxophone at The Hartt School of Music, Dance and Theater at the University of Hartford. She also held positions as Lecturer at the Yale School of Music, Lecturer at Boston University, Assistant Professor at Penn State University, and Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico.

She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, in 17 countries, and on six continents. Commissions and premieres include over 75 compositions. One review in Fanfare Magazine calls her playing “suave, subtly nuanced, and technically secure in its every gesture,” while another refers to her “melting tone and touching sensitivity.” Music Web International describes her as “brilliant and dauntless.”

Current interests include her Voiced project, a series of compositions created to give voice to stories and experiences not normally expressed in classical music; her Carries Weight Performance Art Project, a contemplative endeavor conceived to explore what it means to carry weight in our society by performing on mountain summits and collecting stories from others creating contemplative experiences around the ideas of affect, influence, power, interconnection, and respect; the curation of site-specific projects; the application of social-emotional learning to the applied studio through the evolving pedagogy of listening and communication; and the use of graphic notation in musical interpretation.

She is a founding member of the Committee for Gender Equity of the North American Saxophone Alliance and served as the project manager for CGE’s Community Engagement Initiative. She is also a founding faculty member of the American Saxophone Academy. Koffman holds a bachelors degree from the University of Michigan and a masters degree from the University of North Texas.

Koffman is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher and teaches Yoga for Performers. She is a Conn-Selmer artist and Vandoren artist.