Sue Barber has served as Professor of Bassoon at James Madison University since 2000 and has been a member of the Artist-Faculty at the Brevard Music Center since 2004. An accomplished orchestral musician, she has performed with many of the leading artists of her generation in distinguished venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. 

Dr. Barber’s orchestral career has included positions with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Natchez Opera, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Internationally, she served as Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia in Spain. She has also appeared as a regular substitute musician with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra. Additional festival appearances include the National Repertory Orchestra and the Banff and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals. 

An active freelance bassoonist, Dr. Barber currently performs with CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and the North Charleston Pops! Orchestra. Her regional engagements have included performances with Opera on the James, the Richmond Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Roanoke.  

As a soloist, chamber musician, and educator, Dr. Barber has performed and presented master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Brazil, and China. She has also served as a Visiting Professor at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she taught applied bassoon and presented master classes. Her appearances have included performances and presentations at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, International Double Reed Society Conferences, Virginia Music Educators Association Annual Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium, National Flute Association conventions, and the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Annual Concert of Chamber Music by Women at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She has appeared numerous times as a soloist and chamber musician at the Brevard Music Festival. 

Dr. Barber earned a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University.