Erica Hefner

Erica Hefner is an accomplished orchestral educator in the Charlotte region. She is entering her 14th year of teaching at the Northwest School of the Arts. Erica began her educational career in Charlotte in 2005 teaching middle school orchestra at Piedmont and J.T. Williams. Under her direction, these orchestras grew from 60 to 130 students in just a few years. In addition, she has been a leader in the arts for the International Baccalaureate Programme and has worked on many collaborative performances including leading the Charlotte Symphony arts team in a program titled “Interpreting History Through Art.” Since teaching at Northwest, the orchestra program has grown from 40 to 85 students in four years. Her orchestras have received excellent and superior ratings at Music Performance Adjudication; taken successful trips to Disney, Universal, Nashville, Los Angeles, and the Grand Canyon; and maintained a fantastic relationship with the Charlotte Symphony and Charlotte Concerts. Northwest's orchestra's most recent accomplishments include performing at the 2017 North Carolina Music Educator's Conference in Winston Salem and at Charlotte Concerts' "A Musical Showcase" in April of 2018.

Before starting her educational career, Erica was a flutist who received a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After teaching both band and orchestra in her first teaching position, she discovered a love for teaching stringed instruments and the students that loved those instruments. Erica serves on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' professional development cadre working to create meaningful professional development opportunities for CMS Orchestra teachers. She also performs as a freelance flutist and works as a clinician with orchestras. Outside of teaching, Erica enjoys running, yoga, visiting the mountains, spending time with her husband, Dave, and being Mommy to her two wonderful children, Jonas and Marley.