Photo by Juliette Redl
“A talented conductor” ~ Leonard Bernstein
“Opening night found the capable Eric Kramer in the pit… Kramer’s twenty- four player orchestra gave a good account of itself” ~ Opera News
“Eric Kramer… elicited rich, nuanced work from the orchestra” ~ The New York Times
“Eric Kramer presided over a reading that contributed significantly to the evening’s high spirits.” ~ MusicalAmerica.com
Eric Kramer, Music Director and Conductor
Conductor, composer, and pianist Eric Kramer serves as music director of Collegium Westchester Chorus and Orchestra and assistant conductor with Bronx Opera, where he has conducted numerous opening night performances, including several New York premieres. He has guest conducted the Westchester Chorale and the Chappaqua Orchestra in joint concerts with Collegium Westchester.
In Europe Mr. Kramer has conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Opéra National de Lyon as assistant to Iván Fischer. He has guest conducted the Berlin Sinfonietta; the Sorrento International Music Festival orchestra; the Bohuslav Martinů, Moravian, Plovdiv, and Ruse Philharmonics; the Kroměříž and Solti Chamber Orchestras; and the Ukrainian State Academic Symphony Concert Orchestra in performance and/or recording.
In his mid-teens, Mr. Kramer played his own piano concerto with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and studied composition and piano with Easley Blackwood. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he studied composition under Peter Lieberson and received accolades from Leonard Bernstein for a performance in which he conducted some of his own compositions. After a diversion studying, researching, and teaching theoretical physics, he came to New York for graduate study in orchestral conducting at the Mannes College of Music under Michael Charry. Subsequently he served as chorus director for the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera and the Connecticut Grand Opera, and coach/pianist and education tour music director for the Virginia Opera. He received a Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Career Development Grant for 2008-09.
Collegium Westchester 