Eric Schwartz

School of Dance Music Director Eric Schwartz is passionate about bridging the divide between musicians and dancers. Schwartz believes that teaching and learning are a joy, and he brings that sense of joy into his work in the classroom. He trains dancers to think and to be musical in what they do.

Credentials

• Ten years in the trenches in New York City accompanying contemporary dance and ballet in studios of all shapes and sizes in, around, and throughout the city
• Schwartz's music has been performed at a variety of venues on five continents and recorded on nine albums on various labels, and is published by both Murphy Music Press and Lovebird Music

Career Highlights

• Playing his first class for the Mark Morris Dance Group early in his career with Mark Morris teaching Company Class
• Being flown out to Melbourne, Australia to attend the world premiere of his  composition "Scratch," performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra violinist Sarah Curro at BMW Edge Ampitheatre
• The regular, annual performances given of his score "Nosferatu," live chamber music to accompany the silent film, his most frequently performed work. The sold out premiere at the Carolina Theater in Durham, North Carolina, was a particular highlight.
• The 2000 founding in Brooklyn, New York, and 2010 relocation to North Carolina of Forecast Music, a not-for-profit contemporary music group of which Schwartz is the Artistic Director.
• Served as resident composer for Vox Novus and Forecast Music in NYC, Tonoi in Los Angeles and The Renegade Ensemble in Minnesota
• The release of the first CD exclusively of his own compositions, "24 Ways of Looking at a Piano," named one of the top Classical albums of 2005 by All Music Guide

Awards, Recognitions and Honors

• Schwartz has won awards and grants from ASCAP, The UNC Office of Learning Technology and Innovation, The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, The Society for New Music, Meet the Composer, The Puffin Foundation, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony and others

Organizations

• American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
• The International Guild of Musicians in Dance (IGMB)