Eric Choate

The work of composer Eric Choate has been lauded by Examiner.com as "music to grab the listener's attention through novelty and hold it through technical discipline." He has several awards to his name, including First Prize in the SFCM Art Song Composition Competition for his setting of My Papa's Waltz, First Prize in the Vancouver Chamber Choir Composition Competition for his anthem Now Cheer Our Hearts, and runner-up for the James Highsmith award for his orchestral work Sonora. He is frequently commissioned by recitalists, chamber ensembles, and choirs, and his music has been performed by renowned artists including The Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Brian Thorsett, Emil Miland, Friction Quartet, Areon Flutes, One Found Sound, Mouthscape, and numerous sacred choral ensembles.

Eric is in demand as a choral and orchestral conductor, having served in a guest Chorus Master capacity for the San Francisco Symphony (Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 and Holst's The Planets) and the Berkeley Symphony (Getty's Joan and the Bells and Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine). 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 performances of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms. 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 currently serves as Director of Music at The Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco.

Eric is a recitalist and often works collaboratively with other artists for performances and auditions, provides vocal coaching, and prepares weekly musical offerings in liturgical contexts. 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 Solfege. He then went on to earn a Master of Music with David Conte at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.