Trumpeter Eric Berlin has made the music of our time the focus of his career. As a soloist, Eric has commissioned, premiered and recorded new works for trumpet from some of today’s most exciting composers, including Robert Bradshaw, Michael Ellison, Eric Ewazen, Evan Hause, Salvatore Macchia, Stephen Paulus, and James Stephenson. A new recording of American Trumpet Sonatas with pianist Nadine Shank is scheduled for release in 2011 with two other recording projects of new chamber music and new music for trumpet and band also in progress. Mr. Berlin will premier and record a new concerto by George Tsontakis commissioned for him by the Albany Symphony Orchestra in March 2012.
Mr. Berlin has been featured soloist with many ensembles, including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project about which the Boston Globe wrote “Eric Berlin poured out dazzling, clarion brightness with elegant edges.” Mr. Berlin performed as a soloist with John Williams conducting his own music from “Born on the Fourth of July,” as well as with Hartford, Albany and Brooklyn Symphony Orchestras, the Helsinki University Orchestra, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and the wind ensembles of the University of Massachusetts and the University of Denver.
As Principal Trumpet of the Albany Symphony Orchestra since 1998 Eric Berlin and can be heard with that ensemble on more than a dozen acclaimed recordings that include works by Morton Gould, John Harbison, Roy Harris and William Schuman to name a few. He holds the same position with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and is a member of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, where he can be heard on over two dozen recordings by living American composers including Derek Bermel, Lukas Foss, Charles Fussell, Steven Mackey, Gunther Schuller, and Evan Ziporyn. Since 2006, has spent his summers performing as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, CO. In addition to his regular positions, he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, as well as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.
Mr. Berlin enjoys international regard as a trumpet pedagogue. He maintains a studio as Artist-Teacher of Trumpet at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he hosted the 2007 International Trumpet Guild Conference. He has given master classes at the University of North Texas, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northeastern University, and University of New Hampshire, as well as the Turku Conservatory in Turku and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland . Eric is a member of the Board of Directors and a lifetime member of the International Trumpet Guild.
A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Berlin attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Charles Schlueter, former Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Robert Nagel of the New York Brass Quintet. He has also studied extensively with Vince Penzerella of the New York Philharmonic, Tom Rolfs of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Frank Kadarabek, former Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
While not performing and teaching, he can be found running, hiking and biking in Western Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Alison and their pack of three big dogs. Eric Berlin is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
