Eric Whitacre
Composer
Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre, is among today’s most popular musicians. A graduate of The Juilliard School, his works are performed worldwide, and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united well over 100,000 singers from more than 145 countries. Among his recent accolades and awards, Eric received the Richard D. Colburn Award from the Colburn School and an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Chapman University (CA). His long-term relationship with Decca Classics has produced several no.1 albums which have enduring success.
Eric served consecutive terms as Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and currently holds the position of Visiting Composer at Pembroke College. He’s also an Ambassador for the Royal College of Music in London and is proud to be a Yamaha artist. A long-term relationship with Decca Classics has produced several no.1 albums which have enduring success. Recorded with vocal supergroup VOCES8 and released in 2023, Home features Eric’s work The Sacred Veil alongside other works spanning his thirty-year composition career.
Eric’s newest composition, Eternity in an Hour, premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC Proms in September 2024. Written for choir, string quartet, piano and electronics, it’s the first time Eric has simultaneously conducted and played live electronics on-stage. The piece combines acoustic performance with live synths and real-time sampling and manipulation of the acoustic instruments. In 2025, The Pacific Has No Memory, commissioned by revered violinist, Anne Akiko Meyers, will receive its premiere performed by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, followed by Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Insatiably curious and a lover of all types of music, Eric has worked with legendary Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, as well as British pop icons Laura Mvula, Imogen Heap and Annie Lennox.