Dr. Sara Erb is a bassoonist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her bassoon mentors include Doug Spaniol, Gretha Tuls, David Chatwin, Stefano Canuti, Peter Whelan, and Bill Ludwig. She has collaborated on projects and in concert with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the BBC Philharmonic, the Academy of Ancient Music at Cambridge, and the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico. In addition to her Owensboro duties, Sara is a frequent performer and sub for the Indianapolis Symphony and other regional orchestras, along with performances with her wind quintet PRISM Winds.
As a solo artist, Sara has been a part of numerous professional recordings, most notably for the premiere Naxos recording of Alfred Cellier’s opera ”Dorothy” with maestro Richard Bonynge and the Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra. Recent projects include the premiere of Aaron Travers’ “There are still wild places” for ensemble and video, the premieres of six chamber orchestra works by Indianapolis-based composers, and the premiere of Maria Alejandra Garcia Guzman’s work “Aves y Brujas” for wind quintet. Sara has commissioned Dai Fujikura to write a sinfonietta score reduction for his bassoon concerto, to be premiered in 2026.
Sara completed her Doctor of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in May 2023. Her capstone document, a set of performer’s guides for Fujikura’s three solo bassoon pieces, discusses how performers can approach contemporary techniques and how teachers can implement contemporary techniques into undergraduate curriculum. Sara was invited to present this work at the 2023 International Double Reed Society Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Sara is the assistant professor of bassoon at DePauw University and maintains a private studio in Indianapolis. When she’s not fussing over reeds, she loves visiting friends in Europe, reading, swimming, scuba diving, and attempting to craft a perfect old-fashioned.