Eric Whitacre

Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. Early life Whitacre was born in Reno, Nevada, to Ross and Roxanne Whitacre. He studied piano intermittently as a child and joined a junior high marching band under band leader Jim Burnett. Later Whitacre played a synthesizer in a techno-pop band, dreaming of being a rock star. Though he was unable to read music at the time, Whitacre began his full musical training while he was an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition. At the age of 23 he completed his first piece for wind orchestra, “Ghost Train”, which has now been recorded more than 40 times. Tom Leslie contributed to his interest in writing for wind ensembles. won a Grammy Award in 2012, and became the No.1 classical album on the US and UK charts within a week of release. Whitacre’s second album, Water Night, was released on Decca in April2012 and featured performances from his professional choir the Eric Whitacre Singers, the London Symphony Orchestra, Julian Lloyd Webber and Hila Plitmann. Around January 25, 2011, Whitacre began