Paul Erhard

Paul Erhard’s performance background includes classical double bass, jazz, improvised raga music of India, and solo improvisations. As a concerto soloist, Paul premiered (February 2020) the L. Subramaniam Double Concerto for Violin and Double Bass with Dr. L. Subramaniam, violin, and has performed multiple times the Nino Rota Divertimento Concertante Double Bass Concerto.  An active chamber musician, his collaborations with the Grammy-winning Takács Quartet include the Schubert Trout Quintet in 2019 at Lincoln Center, New York City.  As a composer, he focuses on works for solo double bass and double bass trio.  Paul’s education includes a Masters and Doctorate from The Juilliard School, a Bachelors from Eastman School of Music, and two years in Germany at the Munich Music Hochschule. Paul’s primary teachers are Homer Mensch, Marshall (Larry) Hutchinson, James VanDemark, Georg Hoertnagel, Franz Ortner, and Lyndon Christie.  Paul is Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado College of Music in Boulder, where he taught for 37 years.  In addition to double bass, Paul developed and taught “Improvisation for Strings” for 25 years drawing upon his jazz and raga music of India background.

Since 1998, Paul has explored adapting the improvised solo double bass to the classical music of India.  In 2005 and 2007, Paul and Bangalore India-based flutist Butto Pattanaik and tabla drummer Muthu Kumar toured the USA with their Indo-Western fusion trio Atmic Vision.  A 2013-2015 Fulbright scholar, Paul’s research project “Training the Musical Mind” explored how 35 prominent classical musicians in India use the tambura drone to develop a strong sense of pitch. 

Time Art Space Art is Paul’s newest venture in the creative world of improvisation. Drawing upon his varied performance background, Paul’s improvisations develop non-verbal languages of communication with painters, dancers, photographers, and poets.