faculty

Craig Leffer joined the UTA faculty as a lecturer in cello in 2016. Currently he performs with the Dallas Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and serves as principal cellist of the Abilene Philharmonic. An advocate of community service, he performs with Texas Winds Musical Outreach and as an artist-in-residence at Baylor University Medical Center.

A New York native, Leffer holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music. Festival appearances include Bravo Vail, Kent-Blossom, Ohio Light Opera, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and Utah Festival Opera.

As a principal cellist, Leffer has played with the Midland-Odessa and Syracuse symphonies, and with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He has also performed as a member of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the National Repertory Orchestra. Leffer was formerly a faculty member at Midland College and the University of Texas at the Permian Basin.

Leffer plays on a modern Italian cello by Paolo de Barbieri from Genoa dated 1952.