Eric Lamb
Biography Eric Lamb
Eric Lamb
Belonging to the generation of young international classical musicians who are defying definition, flutist Eric Lamb has made a name for himself as a chamber musician, concerto soloist, recitalist, guest principal and lecturer.
Since leaving his post as a core member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Eric performs regularly as guest with a long list of the world's most important orchestras and soloist ensembles including the Boulez Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Geneva Camerata, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Omega Ensemble (Sydney), the Cleveland Orchestra, PHACE, Camerata Bern, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, ASKO Schoenberg Ensemble and the Radio Orchestra Frankfurt. He has been invited to perform at festivals in Melbourne, Darmstadt, Graz, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Acht Brücken in Cologne, Mostly Mozart Festival, Heidelberg Spring Music Festival and the Bucharest Festival for New Music, to name but a few.
In the last decade, Eric has premiered more than 200 works and has worked closely with composers Viera Janarcekova, Michael Jarrell, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, George Lewis, Ivan Buffa, Julia Purgina, Marc-Andres Dalbavie, HK Gruber, Matthias Pintscher, Reinbert de Leeuw, Michel van der Aa, Nico Muhly, Ben Foskett and conductors like Sakari Oramo, Francois Xavier Roth, Franz Welser-Möst, Vladamir Ashkenazy, Ludovic Morlot, Pablo Heras-Casado, Steve Schick, Susanna Mälkki and Pierre Laurent-Aimard.
As a recording artist, his discography as a soloist and chamber musician is ever growing. He has recorded over 15 commercially available CDs for various labels including Kairos, paladino, SONY, Hyperion, NMC, mode, New Amsterdam, NAXOS, Bridge, Starkland and Nonesuch. This repertoire expands one of the widest of his generation - from Bach, Mozart and Schubert to Xenakis, Jason Eckhardt and Passion Pit.
Eric Lamb's research encompasses a broad sweep of musical styles. Along with his on-going commitment to expanding the 21st century flute repertoire, he is deeply involved with the study and exploration of 17th and 18th century performance practice. This work includes, so far, the discovery and editing of several concerti, etudes, solo pieces and sonatas. His recent research output includes editions of solo works of Johann Joachim Quantz, Johann George Tromlitz, Johann Martin Blochwitz, Michel Blavet and arrangements of JS Bach and Mozart for flute and cello, all published for paladino music. His critically acclaimed debut solo CD 'Quantz: Solo Flute Music' features the premier recording of Quantz's 8 caprices. In early 2018, Eric released his debut concerto album of four unrecorded concertos by Quantz in collaboration with the Kölner Akademie Orchester and Michael Alexander Willens for Profil Edition Hännsler.
Lamb continues to be a much sought-after pedagogue and is regularly invited to present workshops, master classes and lectures throughout South America, Europe and the US. He has been artist in residence at the Conservatoire Nationale de Musique et Danse La Rochelle, the Escola de Música do Estado de São Paulo – EMESP Tom Jobim and has given master classes at Hochschule for Musik Hannover, Birmingham Conservartoire, Eastern Michigan University, Smith College, the University of Virginia, the University of Auckland NZ, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Waikato, Bowling Green University, University of South Carolina, Academie für Musik Wiesbaden and Northwestern University.
Early on in his career, Eric Lamb was a recipient of the Millennium Young Artists' Award from the James Tatum Foundation of the Arts, the National John Philip Sousa Award and the Dean's Talent Scholarship from Oberlin College. He was a finalist at the International Music Competition "Pacem in Terris" (Bayreuth, Germany) and won first prize in the Polytechnische Gesellschaft Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the Lenzewski Music Competition followed later that year with first prize in the German Academic Exchange Performing Arts Competition (DAAD).
Eric began his musical studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he was a student of the great French flutist Michel Debost and studied chamber music with Kathleen Chastain. He then continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt am Main with Thaddeus Watson (Diploma and Concert Soloist Diploma) and later at the Sculoa di Musica di Fiesole, Italy (Diploma) with Chiara Tonelli. Eric studied baroque flute with Sally Tibbles and was heavily influenced by Irena Grafenauer (Salzburg), Robert Langevin (New York) and Viçens Prats (Paris).
Eric performs on both a Sankyo Flute made of Grenadilla Wood and an Altus Limited Silver Flute. He also performs regularly on a 4-keyed traverso made after A. Grenser and a one-keyed flute made after Rottenburgh, both by Tutz of Innsbruck.
