Hailed as a “superb flutist” (New York Times), Erin Lesser has performed as soloist and chamber
musician throughout Canada, the USA, Europe, Asia and South America. She is a member of
Argento Chamber Ensemble, Due East, Scarborough Trio and the Wet Ink Ensemble and was recently appointed the new flutist for Alarm Will Sound. Erin spent two years in a fellowship with The Academy—A Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute, and continues to perform with Ensemble ACJW as an alumni member. Erin is a Pearl Flute Performing Artist.
Ms. Lesser is actively involved in the contemporary music world, having worked closely with
composers such as Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, Helmut Lachenmann, Gabriela Lena Frank, Mario Davidovsky,
Tristan Murail, Philippe Hurel and Beat Furrer. She has performed with many leading
ensembles including Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Eighth Blackbird, American Modern
Ensemble and Sequitur. She has also commissioned many new works with her various ensembles,
and presented lectures and demonstrations on flute techniques of the 21st Century.
As a member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Erin has performed at the Kilkenny Arts
Festival, Shanghai International Electroacoustic Music Festival, Miller Theatre Composer Portrait
Series (NYC), NY Microtonal Festival, Monday Night Concerts in LA, and the International
Spectral Music Conference in Istanbul. The group also collaborated with IRCAM in a festival of
new electroacoustic works at Miller Theatre, NY. Time Out New York critic Steve Smith placed
Argento’s CD release of music by Tristan Murail on his list of the Top Ten Classical Recordings
of 2007.
Due East, Erin’s flute and percussion duo, won the 2008 National Flute Association Chamber
Music Competition. Due East has been ensemble-in-residence at the Universidade de Campinas,
Brazil, and the Yellow Barn Festival. The duo has performed at the Warsaw Crossdrumming
Festival, Society of Electro Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) National
Conference, Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC) in Texas, Tennessee and
Ohio and New Music Festivals at Western Illinois University and University of North Carolina,
Greensboro. Their first full length CD "Simultaneous Worlds" will be released in October 2010 on Albany Records.
As a member of the Scarborough Trio, Erin was a silver medalist at the 2004 Fischoff National
Chamber Music Competition, and the 2006 Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition. As first
prizewinners in the Artists International Competition, the trio was presented in a New York
Debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in 2003. They have toured the Midwest with Allied
Concert Services, and have performed for the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Kravis
Center in West Palm Beach, Florida and the Focus Festival in North Carolina.
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Erin was the recipient of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada Bursary for 1999/2000, and received first prize at the Canadian Music Competition that same year. Her performances have been broadcast on CBC French Radio’s “Jeunes Artistes” series and New York’s WQXR. Ms. Lesser studied with Robert Cram at the University of Ottawa where she received her Bachelor of Music Degree (summa cum laude) in 1999. In 2001, she received her Master of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a student of Linda Chesis. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
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