Conductor, composer, professor, vocalist, linguist, and ethnomusicologist, Eric Banks has garnered significant acclaim as one of the most creative choral directors in the United States – for his unwavering commitment to new music for unaccompanied voices. In 1992, Eric founded The Esoterics, a professional-caliber chamber chorus of volunteers in Seattle whose mission is to perform and perpetuate contemporary choral music beyond the scope of the established a cappella canon. In 2004, Banks founded another group, the all-male vocal ensemble ÆDONIS, whose mission is to perform choral music by gay composers. 

After completing his BA in Composition at Yale University in 1990, Eric relocated to Seattle to study in the departments of Choral Studies and Music Theory at the University of Washington. His MM thesis (1992) is a performance edition of the Dixit Dominus by Chiara Margarita Cozzolani; his MA thesis (1995) is a postmodern analysis of Arvo Pärt’s symphonic Credo; and his DMA dissertation (1996) surveys the choral music of Mexican composer and Aztec ethnomusicologist Carlos Chávez.  In 1997, at the conclusion of his graduate study, Banks traveled to Sweden as a Fulbright Scholar and Lois Roth Fellow in order to learn more about its contemporary choral culture. While in Stockholm, Eric sang as a chorister and soloist with several ensembles, including the Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir. 

In his composition, Eric is drawn to ideas that are ‘esoteric’ in origin, and chooses to uncover and elucidate texts and concepts that are undiscovered, under-represented, or not easily decipherable to most. By focusing almost exclusively on choral repertoire, Banks has been able to combine his interest in poetry, philosophy, classical civilization, comparative religion, ancient melody, and social justice, to create a growing repertoire for a cappella chorus.  His compositions include: Celestial Wystan (2001, a triptych of poems by WH Auden), Tabula siderum zodiaco (2002, mapping the stars of the zodiac), Jâvdâni (2003, setting two quatrains on the afterlife by Rumi), Sonetti d'amore (2005-2006, a cantata of Italian love sonnets by Michelangelo), Twelve Qur’anic visions (2005-2007, a dreamscape of sacred verses in Arabic), Vitam impendere vero (2007, setting Russian verses by Marina Tsvetayova and English phrases from the last published article by the slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya), Sarasvati (2008, a mantra in Sanskrit and English to the Hindu goddess of music), The seven creations (2008, a surround-sound a cappella opera based on the ancient Persian cosmology), Shir hakhusim (2008, setting verses of Hebrew love poetry from the Song of songs), Twelve flowers (2009, commissioned by Boston Choral Ensemble, setting haiku in Japanese and English by Yosa Buson), A new alphabet (2009, commissioned by Boston Children’s Chorus, setting verses in Arabic and English by the Syrian Poet Nizar Qabbani), and Voices (2009, commissioned by the Yale Glee Club, setting a poem in Greek and English by Constantine Cavafy).  For three of his most recent works, Eric has received composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Eric’s current composition projects include: This delicate universe (setting five poems in Greek and English by Constantine Cavafy, commissioned by Conspirare), and Where grief and laughter sleep (setting eight love poems by Adrienne Rich, commissioned by Cantori New York), Stolen days (setting a cycle of poems in Italian and English by Pier Paolo Pasolini, commissioned by Boston Choral Ensemble), and Approaching ecstasy (a concert-length choral ballet on eighteen poems by Constantine Cavafy, commissioned by The Esoterics, Whim w’Him, and St Helens String Quartet).  Banks’ commissioned works have been recorded by The Esoterics and ÆDONIS, and can be found on CDs released on the Terpsichore Records label. 

Eric has taught music theory, musicianship, composition, and voice at Cornish College of the Arts since 2004.  He has been a visiting scholar at the Royal Conservatory of Music and Swedish National Radio in Stockholm (1997-1998), as well as at the Cama Oriental Institute in Bombay, India (2006-2007).  This year, Banks presented the paper “Contemporary American choral music inspired by Islam” at the inaugural conference of Arab choral music, ASWATUNA, in Petra, Jordan.  As a composer and choral scholar, Eric has been awarded grants from the Cornish Faculty Development Fund, 4Culture, and Seattle City Artists.  He has also won a composer’s fellowship by Artist Trust and Washington State Arts Commission (2007).

Eric lives in West Seattle with David Gellman, his partner of eleven years (who is also The Esoterics’ graphic design guru), along with their perpetually vocalizing felines, Sapphire and Topaz.  Eric Banks is a member of ASCAP.