Based in New York City, Erin Rogers (b. 1980) is a composer, saxophonist and advocate of new music, dedicated to the compositional process while specializing in the interpretation and proliferation of significant literature for the concert saxophone.
Her works have been performed in North America, Europe and Asia and have been broadcast on CBC radio and Radio Nacional d’España, with recent performances by the Gotham Ensemble, Anubis Quartet, Jessica Mathaes, the Lost Dog Ensemble, IKTUS Percussion Quartet, Ursula’s End and the Warszynski Trio. In 2005, her chamber work, The Dionysian, was awarded a world premiere performance at the Circulo des Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain, following its selection from an international rostrum of young composers.
Erin is a founding member of thingNY (www.thingNY.com), an exciting new music collective comprised of composers, instrumentalists and singers. The New Yorker’s Alex Ross called new music uber-group, thingNY, part of the city’s burgeoning avant-garde classical music scene “striking an attitude of resistance to mainstream culture,” oscillating between the “sweeter sounds” and the “punishingly loud”. Debuting in October 2006, at Jersey City’s landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre, thingNY has gone on to produce four seasons of experimental music including a radio play by Beckett, a collaborative opera, a comic book album, a mobile home installation, and dozens of premieres.
Erin has traveled worldwide as a soloist, chamber musician, and guest artist, giving performances in France, Taiwan, South Korea and, most recently, Australia. She is a member of the recently founded New Thread Quartet, an ensemble of elite musicians committed to the creation and performance of saxophone quartet repertoire from New York’s burgeoning new music scene.
From 2006 to 2011, Erin held the position of Artistic Director of Random Access Music (RAM), a composers’ consortium based in New York City, committed to bringing new music to the greater metropolitan area. Since its inception, RAM has premiered over 50 new works by living American composers, conducted two international calls-for-scores and curated a new music concert series.
Born and raised in Western Canada, Erin completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta and, in 2005, received master’s degrees in composition and performance from Bowling Green State University. From 2002-2004, Erin was a teaching fellow for Distinguished Artist/Research Professor, John Sampen. Erin has been invited to give lectures, music clinics and masterclasses worldwide. She has directed private music studios in Canada and the US since 1995 and, in July of 2004, was the first female featured guest artist and instructor at the annual Taiwan Saxophone Camp in Taipei, Taiwan.
In 2006, Erin joined the publishing team at Peermusic Classical, located in midtown Manhattan.