Hemke, Fred

Frederick L. Hemke was born July 11, 1935, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a family of artists (his grandparents were professional actors and his great-grandmother was a painter). He married to the former Junita Borg; they had two children, Elizabeth and Frederic. An accomplished painter, Hemke's artwork has been displayed at the Faculty Club at Northwestern, as well as off-campus venues.

In 1956, he was the first American ever to earn a Premier Prix du Saxophone, at the Conservatoire National de Musique, Paris, France, where he studied under Marcel Mule. He received his BS at the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and a Master of Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. He did post-graduate study at Northwestern University and the Eastman School of Music, and received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin.

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