It with a heavy heart that we report the following:

UGA music professor and renowned chamber musician Kenneth Fischer dies after illness

Athens, Ga. – Kenneth Fischer, a renowned saxophone soloist and professor in the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, has died following a brief illness. After being awarded his Doctor of Music with Distinction in Performance from Indiana University, he joined the UGA faculty in 1979.

A frequent contributor to The Saxophone Journal, he authored numerous articles on repertoire and pedagogy. Fischer was an outstanding performer and appeared as a soloist at numerous meetings of the World Saxophone Congress, including the world premieres of several works dedicated to him. In 1987, Fischer was awarded a Soloist Recording Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the recording of original works for the saxophone. Fischer’s recordings are available from the Educational Music Service, Coronet Records and ACA Digital Recording labels.

“Dr. Fischer was a brilliant musician, an artist admired by all who knew him,” said Dale Monson, director of the music school. “He was also a dynamic and international leader in his profession, as well as here at UGA. For more than thirty years he led one of the finest saxophone studios in the world.”

Fischer’s accolades and achievements are accompanied by wide-ranging respect and affection from international colleagues, whom he regularly brought to UGA to perform and interact with his students. Most recently the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet completed a one-week residency at the music school in October, conducting master classes, coaching ensembles and performing. “It’s important for our students to be able to work with such musicians and to get them to know them not only as performers and teachers, but also as human beings,” Fischer said at the time.

Rest in peace, Dr. Fischer.