Composer and educator Donald Erb enjoyed a long career at the Cleveland Institute of Music, retiring in 1996 as Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Born in Youngstown, Ohio on January 17, 1927, Erb learned how to play cornet from his great-aunt during summer vacations in Kansas. In 1950 he graduated with a B.S. in composition and trumpet from Kent State University, where Hugh Glauser became his mentor and long-time friend. He studied with Marcel Dick and received an M.M. in music theory from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1953. Following this he went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, and then studied with Bernhard Heiden and received a D.M. in composition from Indiana University in 1964.
In addition to serving on the faculty of CIM, Erb also taught at Bowling Green University, Southern Methodist University, and Indiana University. He held residencies with the Dallas and St. Louis symphonies, The American Academy in Rome, and several other American and Australian institutions. Orchestras that commissioned his works include Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, and others.
His works have been featured on numerous recordings, and he received numerous awards and grants. Influences on Erb’s music include jazz, serialism, and neo-classicism, and much of it employed electronic and spectral techniques. Donald Erb passed away on August 12, 2008 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
For more information regarding Mr. Erb's life, see the Plain Dealer obituary by Susan Patton.
Photograph by Janet Century
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