Susan Fancher is a renowned classical saxophonist known for her expressive tone and poetic musical interpretations. With a career spanning decades, she has inspired the creation and premiere of dozens of new compositions, collaborating closely with composers both young and more established to expand the repertoire for the saxophone. Audiences and critics praise her ability to fill even the most complex notation with life, a trademark of her work as a champion of new music.

Susan Fancher is an active performer appearing in variety of settings: as a concerto soloist, with pianist Ināra Zandmane, in a variety of chamber music ensembles, music with electronics, sacred music, and with the band The Difficulties. She is the former soprano saxophonist of the Amherst, Vienna, and Rollin’ Phones saxophone quartets. She is the co-host, together with Dr. Wally Wallace, of the popular Saxophone Academy podcast, which has produced over 60 episodes with over 100,000 downloads.

​Recent and upcoming performances include Scott Lindroth’s Schley Road together with the Ciompi String Quartet, Enveloped by Jenni Watson for solo saxophone, music by Shar Joyner, Mark Engebretson, Indiria Everett, and Suzanne Polak for saxophone and piano, Every Thing Belongs by Harriet Steinke, Crossed Shadows by John Supko, Hedera by James Paul Sain, and Mending Time by Martin Bresnick for the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, and Not The End and other new music created and performed by The Difficulties.
 
Susan Fancher’s discography lists over twenty albums on New Focus Records, Metier Records, Arizona University Records, Philips, New World, Lotus Records Salzburg, Parma, Mark Records, Extraplatte, and Innova Records. Her recording “Of Erthe and Air: Susan Fancher and friends play music of Hilary Tann” on Arizona University Records features a live performance of Tann’s soprano saxophone concerto Shakkei with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, performed at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok. 

Born and raised in Albion, New York, Susan Fancher holds undergraduate degrees in saxophone performance and mathematics, as well as Master's and Doctor of Music degrees from Northwestern University, where she studied with Dr. Frederick Hemke.  She was awarded the prestigious Médaille d'Or (Gold Medal) from the conservatory in Bordeaux, France, where she studied with Monsieur Jean-Marie Londeix. Susan Fancher currently serves as a Lecturing Fellow at Duke University, where she teaches saxophone and music entrepreneurship and coaches chamber music.  She plays on Selmer saxophones and Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures.