Profile

Biography

Composer and Violist Eric Lemmon received his Bachelors in Music at New York University’s Music and Performing Arts Program and his Masters in Viola Performance at the Mannes Conservatory. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he as been awarded a Mancini Fellowship. He is the founder and editor of the music criticism and review site OpenSourceMusic.org. As a violist, Eric has performed throughout the New York City metropolitan area with groups such as The Manhattan Camerata, DETOUR New Music, the troupe Project Opera, and for the non-profit Lower East Side Performing Arts. He has been a regular member of Brooklyn’s One World Symphony and The Chelsea Symphony, both of where he has played as principal. Eric has also performed as principal violist with The Sheep Island Ensemble and for works such as Alan Menken’s King David, Bernstein’s Candide, Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Dylan Glatthorn’s Republic, and Robert Cuckson’s A Night of Pity. As a composer, Eric has had his works performed both in the United States and Japan, where he recently gave Kyoto and New York premieres of his solo viola work, “Closer”. His works have appeared in venues ranging from alt-classical venue (le) Poisson Rouge to the FIGMENT arts festival on Governor’s Island. Eric has been awarded NYU’s Creative Collaboration Grant in relation to the performance of his work The Cure at Troy and Mannes’ Peter M. Gross Grant, which is dedicated to helping students at the conservatory achieve professional goals. Eric’s mentors on viola include Stephanie Baer, Pamela McConnell, Laura Shuster and Ira Weller. In composition, teachers include Jerica Oblak, Charles Mason and Rudolf Palmer.