Eric Holtan, founder and music director of the Tucson Chamber Artists, launched his professional
music career at age 12 as a church organist. He studied organ, voice and choral conducting at
Gustavus Adolphus College (MN), since which he has held positions in secondary and higher
education, as well as church, community, and professional conducting posts.
Eric completed the master’s degree in choral conducting at the University of Iowa, where he was also assistant conductor of Camerata Singers. While pursuing the doctor of musical arts degree in choral and orchestral conducting at the University of Arizona, Eric broadened his conducting experiences as chorus master of the UA Opera Theatre, working in productions of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Puccini’s La Rondine. In 2004 he also served as assistant conductor for the UA’s presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, and as conductor of the UA Community Chorus in performance of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, making his conducting debut with members of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.
Choirs under Eric’s direction have performed in the great cathedrals of central Europe, in an international choral festival in Russia, and as invited performers at the annual conventions of the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MEA) and the Minnesota American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). In 1995, the Minnesota ACDA named him "Outstanding Young Choral Director." During his tenure at the UA, Eric was one of eight conductors invited to the graduate student conducting competition at the ACDA national convention, where he advanced as a finalist. That same year he conducted the Arizona Choir, the UA premier choral ensemble, in their performance for the Arizona MEA convention.
In fall 2004 Eric was appointed assistant director of the acclaimed Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and has served as associate conductor of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. Eric has continued his work in church music and serves as director of choirs at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church. Last year, he coordinated the Arizona-Nevada task force to introduce a new hymnal for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This past summer he co-founded Tucson Choral Academy with his mentor Bruce Chamberlain, providing training for Tucson’s choral singers and church choral leaders.
Eric’s principal conducting teachers have included Karle Erickson, William Hatcher, Bruce Chamberlain and Thomas Cockrell. Additionally, Eric was a conducting associate at the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina, and most recently, a conducting fellow at the Chorus America Master Class hosted by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he conducted the Philadelphia Singers. He has trained with other notable conductors including Otto-Werner Mueller, David Hayes, Duain Wolfe, Vance George, and Dale Warland.
Now in its fourth season, TCA, under Eric’s direction, has become one of the most exciting arts organizations in Southern Arizona, with a growing reputation for excellence in performance of both masterworks and music of our time.
