Born in 1970, Eric Whitacre received his M.M. in compostion from the Juilliard School of Music, studying with John Corigliano and David Diamond. Today, Eric Whitacre is one of the bright stars in contempory concert music, and has quickly become a much commissioned, published and performed choral and symphonic composer, as well as an accomplished conductor and clinician. In addition, he also writes for the motion pictures and has a Grammy nomination to his name. Eric Whitacre has received composition awards from ASCAP, the Barlow International Foundation and the American Composers Forum. His Cloudburst, for mixed chorus, piano, hand bells and percussion, received first prize in the American Choral Directors Association's " Composers of the Future" competition.
 
Internationally, Eric Whitacre conducted the first in an annual series of wind symphony concerts ion Tokyo, Japan, and was named music director of the Narashino Wind Consortium.
 
Across the United States, Eric Whitacre has conducted, played in, or assisted over 30 musical theater and operetta productions. He has served as chorus master for the Nevada Symphony Orchestra and his guest conducting appearances include the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Gregg Smith Singers and the Miami Children's Chorus. He is currently Composer In Residence with the Pacific choral, California.
 
 
 
 

Review  

"With 'Water Night' and 'Cloudburst,' young Eric Whitacre has crafted two pieces of supremely evocative music. The first features electric, chilling harmonies and a luxurious texture performed, for the first time in the concert, with real feeling and focus by members of the chorus.
 
The second work was the highlight of the evening. It opens with a shimmering dissonance that dissolves into murmuring. Then the singers set down their music and create a thunderstorm with a sudden clap of their hands and the sound of raindrops with snapping fingers. This is a work of unearthly beauty and imagination, and the chorus delivered it to the rapt crowd as though born for the job."

- exerpted from a review by
Jack Robinson of the Los Angeles Times

Review  

"The chorale has contracted with the 30-year-old Whitacre for the next three years, which, based on the works of his presented on Sunday evening at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, looks to be the artistic equivalent of buying Microsoft at $5 a share.
 
Whitacre, a Juilliard graduate and student of John Corigliano, was represented by two settings of poems by Octavio Paz, settings that demonstrated ingenuity, musical intelligence and character.
 
'Cloudburst,' composed when Whitacre was only 23, flows seamlessly from dense complex harmonies into broad, vertical explosions of full, sonorous power, to a cascade of percussive effects.
 
It brilliantly yokes text and music, and the chorale, under the steady hand of John Alexander, gave it an enthusiastic, well-rehearsed performance. Obviously comfortable with the material, the chorale sang with clarity and poise, to great dramatic impact. "

- exerpted from a review entitled
Whitacre's talents pleasantly interpreted
by
Peter Lefevre of the Orange County Register