Who I am:
Eric Malmquist (b. 1985) lives, performs, and composes in Chicago, Illinois. His music draws equally from both modern styles, especially minimalism and post-modernism, and the influence of historical themes and early music. He is the founder of S O N G (Singers On New Ground), a group dedicated to contemporary American art song. S O N G holds three or four concerts annually, and frequently commissions new works as well as collaborates with living poets through the online literary journal Memorious.org.
Eric was selected to be a Composer Fellow in the first-ever composer’s workshop at the Seasons Music Festival in Yakima, Washington in October 2008. While there, he won the Seasons Festival Orchestral Composition Prize, and his orchestral work Adventus was premiered by the Yakima Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Brooke Creswell.
The Chicago Composers Orchestra commissioned him to write a work for their inaugural concert in 2010, and again in 2012. The Newberry Consort commissioned him to write a work for the rare ensemble soprano and violas-de-gamba, which was later performed on Live from WFMT with the composer in attendance. Access Contemporary Music has commissioned him twice, once for a live film score for their Sound of Silent Film Series, and again as part of their collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open house Chicago. He has also been commissioned by the Wicker Park Choral Singers, VOX 3, the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles, St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church, and Homeroom Chicago.
Eric has studied composition with Stacy Garrop, Daron Hagen, and Kyong Mee Choi while pursuing a Master’s Degree in Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and with David Vayo, Garrett Byrnes, and Mario Pelusi at Illinois Wesleyan University for his Bachelor’s.
Eric is also a dedicated liturgical musician. He volunteers his skills as an electric bassist to the 5pm Sunday Mass at St. Vincent DePaul Church in Lincoln Park, and occasionally performs at diocesan events.
In his free time, Eric is an avid reader of history, on subjects ranging from the origins of written language to the First World War. His love of history also fuels his love of artisan loose-leaf tea, a drink intimately entwined in the stories of empires, and even wars. He is a proud resident of Rogers Park on the far north side, and doesn’t mind a long L ride downtown because it offers excellent reading time. He is recently married.
Eric was selected to be a Composer Fellow in the first-ever composer’s workshop at the Seasons Music Festival in Yakima, Washington in October 2008. While there, he won the Seasons Festival Orchestral Composition Prize, and his orchestral work Adventus was premiered by the Yakima Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Brooke Creswell.
The Chicago Composers Orchestra commissioned him to write a work for their inaugural concert in 2010, and again in 2012. The Newberry Consort commissioned him to write a work for the rare ensemble soprano and violas-de-gamba, which was later performed on Live from WFMT with the composer in attendance. Access Contemporary Music has commissioned him twice, once for a live film score for their Sound of Silent Film Series, and again as part of their collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open house Chicago. He has also been commissioned by the Wicker Park Choral Singers, VOX 3, the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles, St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church, and Homeroom Chicago.
Eric has studied composition with Stacy Garrop, Daron Hagen, and Kyong Mee Choi while pursuing a Master’s Degree in Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and with David Vayo, Garrett Byrnes, and Mario Pelusi at Illinois Wesleyan University for his Bachelor’s.
Eric is also a dedicated liturgical musician. He volunteers his skills as an electric bassist to the 5pm Sunday Mass at St. Vincent DePaul Church in Lincoln Park, and occasionally performs at diocesan events.
In his free time, Eric is an avid reader of history, on subjects ranging from the origins of written language to the First World War. His love of history also fuels his love of artisan loose-leaf tea, a drink intimately entwined in the stories of empires, and even wars. He is a proud resident of Rogers Park on the far north side, and doesn’t mind a long L ride downtown because it offers excellent reading time. He is recently married.