Widely known for her brilliant and expressive playing, Erika Switzer grows her reputation as the collaborative pianist of choice.  Throughout Europe and North America, she has been praised for her ability to match emotional playing to dramatic texts.  She performs with many of Canada’s finest singers: sopranos Martha Guth and Andriana Chuchman, mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, tenor Colin Balzer, and baritone Tyler Duncan.  In 2011/12, Ms. Switzer will perform a tour for Debut Atlantic with soprano Simone Osborne and Tyler Duncan.  Her New York appearances include a recital with Colin Balzer for the Peggy Rockefeller Concert Series.  For the Francis Poulenc Academy in Tours, France, she will perform a recital with Tyler Duncan.

In 2010/2011, Ms. Switzer performed works of Mahler and R. Strauss at Montreal’s Andre Turp Society with Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano and Mr. Duncan and toured Saskatchewan and Manitoba with Ms. Guth and Mr. Duncan for Prairie Debut.  In New York: she assisted in coordinating the Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn Celebration at the Juilliard School; and performed at the Frick Collection in recital with Mr. Balzer.  During the 09/10 season, Erika was honoured to be an official pianist for voice division of Munich’s renowned ARD International Music Competition.  Ms. Switzer has also performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Longy Hall, and Paris’ Salle Cortot.  Other European performances include the New Discoveries series in Baden-Baden Festspiele, and the Winners & Masters concert series in Munich.  She has also performed for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and the Cape Classic Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. In her native Canada, she has performed at the Chamber Music Festivals of Montreal and Ottawa and at MusicFest Vancouver.

Erika Switzer is a founding faculty member of the Vancouver International Song Institute and currently teaches at Bard College in upstate NY and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.  She is also co-creator of the podcast and soon-to-be Ezine “Sparks and Wiry Cries”, co-hosted with soprano Martha Guth.  “Sparks and Wiry Cries” is becoming the online source for all things song, singer, and pianist.  www.sparksandwirycries.com

Erika Switzer won First Prize for best pianist at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Best Pianist award at the Robert Schumann International Vocal Competition. Following seven years in Germany, Ms. Switzer is currently based in New York City where she is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School of Music.