Erika Switzer

Erika Switzer is an internationally active pianist, teacher, and arts administrator. Heard on the stages of New York’s Weill Hall (Carnegie), Geffen Hall, Frick Collection, and Bargemusic, at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC), the Bard Music Festival, and Stanford Live, she has also appeared across Canada at festivals including Toronto’s Canadian Voices, Debut Atlantic, and the chamber music festivals of Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa. During her seven-year sojourn to Germany, she performed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Munich Winners & Masters series, and she won numerous awards, including best pianist prizes at the Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Wigmore Hall International Song Competitions. Further European appearances have included recitals for Pro Musicis at the Salle Cortot in Paris, for the Académie Francis Poulenc at the L’Hôtel de ville de Tours, and the Göppingen Meisterkonzerte.

Devoted to the performance of new music, recent premieres include the 5 Boroughs Music Festival Songbook II (Matthew Aucoin, Jonathan Dawe, Evan Fein, Whitney George, Laura Kaminsky, Missy Mazzoli, Paola Prestini, Kamala Sankaram), the Brooklyn Art Song Society (Andrew Staniland), and Vancouver’s Music on Main (Jocelyn Morlock, Caroline Shaw).

Erika has been recorded by the CBC, Dutch Radio (Radio 4), SWR and the Bayerische Rundfunk in Germany, WQXR New York and WGBH Boston. An upcoming recording release, “English Songs à la française” features her long-standing duo-partnership with baritone Tyler Duncan.

Erika is on the music faculty at Bard College and the Vocal Arts Program of the Bard Conservatory of Music. She has been on the faculty of several summer programs, including the Vancouver International Song Institute, the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar at Stanford. She received her doctorate from The Juilliard School.

This page was last updated in May 2021.