Branch Director

Sara Hiner is currently Director of the Settlement Music School’s Germantown Branch, where she is also on faculty as a bassoon instructor. Prior to Settlement Music School, Ms. Hiner held a number of positions at a variety of arts organizations, including at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, and most recently as Assistant Dean at the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, where she was also taught bassoon. Her high school seniors have been accepted to bassoon programs at schools such as USC’s Thornton School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. Her students have also regularly participated in honors ensembles like the Colburn Youth Orchestra, ensembles of the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association, California Band Directors Association, California Music Educators Association, and in ensembles within the Colburn School’s Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute, including the Honors Woodwind Quintet.

Sara’s primary instructors in bassoon were Judith Farmer and Rose Corrigan, and she performed frequently in master classes led by bassoonists such as Alan Goodman, Richard Beene and Michael O’Donovan, with additional studies with Matthew Ruggiero at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. Her performances have also aired on KUSC, KMozart, and Sundays Live at LACMA in Los Angeles. In 2000 her woodwind quintet won first prize at the International Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival Competition and she was a National YoungArts winner in 2001 (formerly the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts).

Sara earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Bassoon Performance from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where she was a recipient of USC’s Dean Scholarship, Trojan Scholarship, and Music Merit Scholarship. She served on the Thornton Alumni Association Board of Directors for the 2013–2014 academic year, subsequently receiving a Certificate of Appreciation at USC’s Honors Convocation for her service to the school, and now serves on the Advisory Council for USC Thornton’s Alumni Association.

Email: sara.hiner@settlementmusic.org

Phone Number: 215-320-2610

Education: University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, BM and MM Bassoon Performance