Sarah Hurd graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duquesne University with a Bachelor of Music in performance in 2009, and during her undergraduate studies she had the immense privilege of being in the studio of Mr. James Gorton, co-principal oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (now former). Sarah’s first oboe teacher was Mr. Gregory Shook (Washington National Symphony, Washington National Opera, Washington Bach Consort), and it was with Mr. Shook that she began her undergraduate studies in music at Shepherd University, located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

During her time as an undergraduate, she discovered her love of both chamber music and of authentic community engagement through music-making, something instilled in her first and foremost by her first teacher; this passion for both chamber music and authentic community engagement through music was deepened while studying under Mr. Gorton. When not engaged in university performances, Sarah was an active freelancer doing small-scale classical and decidedly eclectic “pop-up” collaborations within underserved communities around the US creating art with, by, and for the communities she found herself in during her travels. She also undertook several modest ventures into both traditional symphony orchestra and commercial studio work before deciding that community-based art making was where she felt she could do the most good while making her best art.

She also was a frequent guest oboist with both sacred and secular choirs both local to Pittsburgh and along the eastern seaboard; including repeat ventures with a group that will forever hold a dear space in her heart: Hagerstown Choral Arts, a dedicated all-volunteer choral organization comprised of local community members from all walks of life; finding unity through their love of music making and working together under the guiding baton of  co-founder/artistic director of the HCA (and champion of community-led engagement), Mr. Gregory Shook. Further, Sarah was a guest soloist for the HCA’s recording, “Christmas with Hagerstown Choral Arts” and she was invited back to join HCA for the east coast premiere performance of Richard Nance’s “Mass for a New Millennium” during their 2006-07 concert season.

As a mentor who always strived to lead by example, Greg had a pivotal role both in Sarah’s personal and professional development. Through his musical efforts on and off the oboe in a community that at the time was somewhat hostile toward and otherwise distrusting of their own classical music community, he imparted upon Sarah a deep understanding of both the importance of truly authentic —community needs-centered— engagement and the need to cultivate the strength and endurance of will to do the often grueling (but always rewarding) work necessary to build what a community needs while simultaneously being certain to fully utilize first and foremost the gifts the community itself already possesses and being equally certain to give those gifts presence at center stage. These two pillars of wisdom directly and profoundly inform Sarah’s professional and personal philosophies to this day, both as a performing artist and as an artist teacher.

As she continued with her academic career, Sarah began her graduate studies at Duquesne University’s Mary Pappert School of Music under the tutelage of Mr. Scott Bell in 2010 after initially beginning her graduate work at Carnegie Mellon University the previous academic year. Upon returning to the Mary Pappert School of Music, Sarah immediately had the opportunity to immerse herself in the chamber music she loved as a founding member of the Triano Graduate Woodwind Quintet in addition to co-creating several non-university affiliated professional freelance chamber music ensembles. In addition, she remained committed to both maintaining  her non-profit freelance work while continuing performing as a regular member of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra (9 years in total; oboe and English horn substitute, English hornist, and second oboist).

The semester Sarah was supposed to graduate in 2012, she took ill with what at the time was wrongly assumed to be Bell’s Palsy. After a brief rebound period, her health began to collapse and she was no longer able to play the oboe. All requisite graduate coursework and related written and verbal exams and papers were completed, but she was unable to fulfill the final requirement: the graduate degree recital. After an over decade-long grueling medical journey and a life-saving brain surgery, she did what was presumed to be medically impossible when she once again took to the solo stage to complete her master's recital in December 2022, under the tutelage of Mr. Max Blair.  She will be returning to DU in the Fall 2023 semester to begin work towards an Artist Diploma in oboe with an emphasis in chamber music while continuing studies with Max Blair, and she is currently in a chamber duo with cellist and Cleveland Institute of Music alum Mr. Jacob Nathanson.

As an artist teacher, Sarah has a special interest in oboe pedagogy for both children and adult beginners in addition to having a keen interest in the research currents in injury prevention in the woodwind player. She has been a chamber music artist and intern with Summer Trios, and she is often invited to independently coach oboists and chamber ensembles of all ages and skill levels. Also a capable scholar, she is currently suspending most of her teaching this summer in order to work on finalizing an injury prevention and mitigation resource guide for applied teachers working with hypermobile students in collaboration with several prominent orthopedic, sports medicine, and precision medicine physicians.

As an openly disabled performer Sarah endeavors to center often-overlooked yet highly skilled and talented disabled performers, and is actively voluntarily involved with Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music leadership in addition to local arts scene representatives and venue management to bring attention to the profound inaccessibility issues plaguing disabled performers at many of the venues both at the school and around the US, with the focus being squarely placed upon securing permanently both stage and backstage accessibility for all performers, including the mobility-impaired and other disabled artists. As she begins to rebuild her career after a decade-long medical hiatus, she is also endeavoring to help make performances more readily accessible to the Deaf and HoH, neurodivergent, and other communities whose accessibility needs are often either ignored or tokenized by the music world.

In her free time, Sarah volunteers as a patient advocate for patients with rare diseases.