Eric Stern is an American vocalist, accordionist, composer, arranger, and pianist based in Portland, Oregon, best known as the founder and artistic director of the band Vagabond Opera.
He also performs as a soloist, as well as with the Eric Stern Trio. Stern, with Vagabond Opera, has appeared on
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
and performed at the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
, the
Great American Music Hall
The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconies ...
in San Francisco,
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette St ...
in New York City.
Career
Stern was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, in June 1971 and trained as a vocalist at the Delaware Valley Opera Company. At the age of 21, Stern decided to pursue writing and moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, returning to the U.S., and to music, a year and a half later.
In 2002, Stern founded the group Vagabond Opera, known for their blend of eclectic musical styles, including
German cabaret,
Klezmer
Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
.
[ The band released four albums until their hiatus in 2015.]Queen of Knives
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
'', in collaboration with Wanderlust Circus
Wanderlust Circus is a theatrical circus troupe based in Portland, Oregon, founded in 2006 by creative partners Noah Mickens and Nick "The Creature" Harbar. Since 2006, Wanderlust Circus has grown from a small band of creatives to a full-fledged ...
.The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
, Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box (BBB) is an Israeli musical group. Founded by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in 2003, BBB was later joined by Tomer Yosef who became a core member. The group plays Mediterranean-influenced music that incorporates Jewish, Southeastern ...
, Unwoman, Pink Martini
Pink Martini is an American band that was founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as classical, latin, traditional pop, and jazz. The co-lead v ...
, and DeVotchka. In 2011, Stern composed the score for the Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre's production of ''Pinocchio
Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...
''.
In March 2015, Stern's independent production company, Hungry Opera Machine, debuted its first opera at the Alberta Rose Theatre
Alberta Rose Theatre, formerly known as the Alameda Cinema, is an historic theatre in Portland, Oregon's Concordia, Portland, Oregon, Concordia neighborhood, in the United States.
See also
* Alberta Arts District
References
External links
...
: ''Flour, Salt, & Moonbeams''. It was well received by critics.
Stern currently works as the Events Coordinator and Cultural Arts Ambassador for Eastside Jewish Commons, a nonprofit in Porland, Oregon.
Awards
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
Concert Division Panel award recognizing creative contributions to American music (September 2011).
Discography
;With Vagabond Opera
*''Get on the Train'' (2004)
*''Vagabond Opera'' (2006)
*''The Zeitgeist Beckons'' (2009)
*''Sing For Your Lives'' (2011)
;Solo
*''Stern Little Stories'' (2012)
*''Ashes of Rembetiko'' (2017)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Eric
1971 births
American opera composers
Jewish opera composers
Living people
Male opera composers
Classical musicians from Oregon