Eric Choate

Background

About Eric Choate

The work of composer Eric Choate has been lauded as "music to grab the listener's attention through novelty and hold it through technical discipline"(Examiner.com). He has several awards to his name, including First Prize in the SFCM Art Song Composition Competition, First Prize in the Vancouver Chamber Choir Composition Competition, and runner-up for the James Highsmith award. Recently he composed an Ave Maria for a Notre-Dame solidarity concert, and conducted the performance with musicians from the San Francisco Symphony, American Bach Soloists, The Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, Frederica von Stade, and Johann Vexo. He is frequently commissioned, and his music has been performed by renowned artists including The Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Brian Thorsett, Emil Miland, John Churchwell, Friction Quartet, Areon Flutes, One Found Sound, Mouthscape, and numerous sacred choral ensembles. Eric's music is published by E.C. Schirmer and Augsburg Fortress. Eric is in demand as a choral and orchestral conductor, having served in a guest Chorus Master capacity for the San Francisco Symphony and the Berkeley Symphony. Eric was recently appointed 10th Artistic Director of the GRAMMY Award-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus. He is Assistant Director of the Conservatory Chorus at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, which recently involved a collaboration with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra. For three years, Eric was Assistant Conductor of the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra; highlights of this engagement included conducting a performance of Verdi's Requiem in Ypres, Belgium with the Oost-Vlaams Symfonisch Orkest, as well as conducting such works as Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Cherubini's Requiem, Bach's Passion according to St. John, and Britten's War Requiem. Eric is a sought after choral clinician and currently serves as Director of Music at The Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. Eric is a recitalist and frequently performs collaboratively with other artists, and offers vocal and instrumental coaching. Graduating with Departmental Distinction, Eric earned his Bachelor of Arts in Composition from St. Olaf College, where he studied with Timothy Mahr and Justin Merritt. He was awarded a fellowship to study harmony and counterpoint at the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France; from this, he graduated with Honorable Mentions in Harmony and Solfège. He then went on to earn a Master of Music with David Conte at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.