Kurt Erickson's music has been commissioned and performed by a wide range of chamber ensembles, orchestras, choruses, sacred music institutions, ballet companies, and colleges and universities. In 2006 his Toccata for Orchestra was performed by and the Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of Osmo Vänskä. As a young composer in his 20's, he served multiyear sacred music residencies at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral (1999-2000) and at the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi (2001-2003). In 2002 Erickson was commissioned by San Francisco Opera Ballet Master Lawrence Pech to create the music for the ballet Angels: Fallen & Otherwise.
Erickson received a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at The University of Notre Dame, and studied composition at Mills College with Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Curran. As a composer/pianist, he participated as a Fellow at Yale University's Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Minnesota Orchestra's Composer Institute, the Chamber Music Institute (NY), Music 97 (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music), and in a residency program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He has received grants and awards from the American Music Center, ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, and the Seaver Institute. Each June, he takes part in a composer residency working with young dancers at the Napa Valley International Dance Festival’s Creativity Workshop, where his ballet scores are performed at the Napa Valley Opera House.
Upcoming and recent commission projects include an orchestral song set for soprano Marnie Breckenridge and the Sacramento Philharmonic (2008-09 season), a chamber work for Santa Clara University pianist Teresa McCollough and the ADORNO Ensemble (2007-08 season), a piano and orchestra commission for the Diablo Valley College Philharmonic (February 2009), a premiere performance at the American Guild of Organists’ National Convention (Minneapolis, June 2008), and a new commission from soprano Laura Portune. Additionally, the June 2008 premiere performance at the American Guild of Organists National Convention will be later rebroadcast on an upcoming episode of the nationally syndicated Minnesota Public Radio show Pipe Dreams. Erickson’s choral works were recently recorded and released on a CD by the Schola Cantorum vocal ensemble entitled This Christmas Night, and a CD of his piano works will be recorded and released during the 2008-09 season. In a recently published dissertation, Dr. Randall Speer declared: "This is a composer to watch for."
