Dr. Eric Nelson is an American choral conductor, clinician, and composer.

Career

Dr. Nelson received his training in voice and choral conducting at Houghton College

Houghton College

Houghton College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. The college is a member of both the Christian College Consortium and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...

, Westminster Choir College

Westminster Choir College

Westminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano...

, and Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

.

Contributions in Atlanta

Dr. Nelson is Director of Choral Studies at Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, where he teaches graduate choral Conducting and Choral Literature. He conducts Emory’s 40-voice Concert Choir and its 180-voice University Chorus. In 2004, he was the recipient of a "Crystal Apple" award for excellence in teaching at Emory University. He is also the Artistic Director of the Atlanta Sacred Chorale, a 40-voice adult chamber choir specializing in sacred

Sacred

Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...

, a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 repertoire and is the Minister of Music at the historic Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta.

International Choral Involvement

Nelson has conducted choirs throughout North America and Europe, including performances in Krakow, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

, Lincoln Center, Spivey Hall

Spivey Hall

Spivey Hall was built in 1991 on the campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, not far from Atlanta, Georgia. Its seating capacity is 392 . It presents jazz and classical music to the metro Atlanta area....

, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and at both the Southern and National Conventions of the ACDA. His ensembles have been praised for their ability to combine a high level of technical precision with warmth of musical expression.

Other Musical Occupations

Highly regarded as a clinician, adjudicator

Adjudicator

An adjudicator is someone who presides, judges and arbitrates during a formal dispute. The term adjudicator essentially means a judge, without invoking the legal term. An ombudsman is a type of adjudicator in local government in the United Kingdom....

, lecturer, and guest conductor, Dr. Nelson has conducted and presented workshops for the American Choral Directors Association

American Choral Directors Association

The American Choral Directors Association , headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization with the stated purpose of promoting excellence in the field of choral music...

, the Music Educator’s National Conference, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians

Presbyterian Association of Musicians

Presbyterian Association of Musicians is a national organization of the Presbyterian Church for people who are involved in the areas of Reformed Christian worship, Church music, and liturgical arts. The national offices for this 1,600 member organization are located in Louisville at the National...

, the American Guild of Organists

American Guild of Organists

The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...

, Chorister’s Guild, Church Music Explosion (at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church) and for numerous other churches, colleges and universities.

Works

Nelson is also a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 of choral music whose works are published by Colla Voce and Augsburg Fortress

Augsburg Fortress

Augsburg Fortress is the official publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and also publishes for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada as Augsburg Fortress Canada...

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Colla Voce

• "Music, When Soft Voices Die" - In memory of Deborah A. Hunter, text by Percy Bysshe Shelly. (SATB
  SATB
  In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...
  
   with Piano Accompaniment)

Text

Music, when soft voices die,

Vibrates in the memory;

Odours, when sweet violets sicken,

Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,

Are heap'd for the belovèd's bed;

And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,

Love itself shall slumber on.

Augsburg Fortress

• "How Can I Keep from Singing?
  How Can I Keep from Singing?
  "How Can I Keep From Singing?" is a Christian hymn with music written by American Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker hymn...
  
  ": (SATB, a cappella, released: Monday, February 4, 2002)

• "It is Well With My Soul": (SATB, piano accompinament, released: Wednesday, March 2, 2005)