About Erika
I began studying Suzuki violin with my mother at age four, and from age eleven studied with Tyrone Grieve at the University of Wisconsin Madison. My studies continued during high school and college with Elaine Richey at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA), where I received the Osborne Scholarship. After graduating from NCSA, I earned a Masters in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Mitchell Stern. In the years after I studied with Burton Kaplan and Joey Corpus.
After graduating, I had a successful 16-year career freelancing in New York City as a performer and as a teacher. Over the years, I have held teaching positions at the Lucy Moses School of Music at the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center in New York City, the Queensborough College Suzuki Program in New York City, the Huntington Suzuki Program on Long Island, and the Lamar Stringfield Music Camp. I have been a guest teacher and clinician for many schools and camps including The Meredith College Suzuki Program, The Chapel Hill Suzuki Collective, and Music City Strings in Nashville, TN. I am currently a teacher at The Triangle Area Suzuki Talent Education Program in Raleigh, North Carolina. I have performed as a chamber musician throughout Europe and the United States, and recorded on the Koch, Newport Classics, Relix, and Atlantic labels. I have been a featured concerto soloist with the Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra, and the Bar Harbor Festival Chamber Orchestra. I have held the position of Principal Second Violin of the Bar Harbor Festival Chamber Orchestra in New York City and Maine since 1996, and am Principal Second Violin at Opera Carolina in Charlotte North Carolina for the 2019-2020 season. I am a founding member of Vida Strings and regularly play with the North Carolina Symphony. Finally, I am a former member of the first violin section of both the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. I have also been a rock violinist performing on both electric and acoustic violin. I recorded with bands such as Modern English, Clutch, Illuminate, The New Creatures, and Violet. I have also collaborated with singers like Jimmie Earl Perry, Barry White, and Harry Connick, Jr., and with music producer Jack Douglas. |