VISI Faculty: Erika Switzer
Canadian
collaborative pianist Erika Switzer won the 1st prize for best pianist
at the 2003 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and at the 2004
Robert Schumann International Competition. Praised for her ability to
match emotional playing to dramatic texts, she has partnered such singers
as Edith Wiens, Christa Mayer, Tyler Duncan, Colin Balzer and Cabaret-duo “Leave
it to Diva” in recitals throughout Europe and North America, including
Montreal’s Andre Turp Musical Society, and the Kennedy Center in
Washington DC. A regularly featured performer at Festival Vancouver,
she has fed her passion for performing ‘songs in context’ by
contributing to a growing movement toward staged song recitals. She has
recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Dutch Radio
(Radio 4) and in Germany for SWR and the Bayerische Rundfunk.
In addition to her performing career, Erika is employed as a vocal coach and pianist at the Hochscule für Musik Nürnberg-Augsburg and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Erika completed a Master’s degree in Piano Performance at the University of British Columbia with Professors Jane Coop and Rena Sharon. Studying in Germany as a recipient of a Canada Council Grant for the Arts, she received a postgraduate degree in Song Interpretation from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Professor Helmut Deutsch. She also studied at many international music academies including: the Britten-Pears School, the Academie Musicale de Villecroze, and at the Franz Schubert Institutes of Amsterdam and Vienna.