Eric Wilson

Wilson, Eric

Eric (James) Wilson. Cellist, teacher, adjudicator, b Winnipeg 23 Sep 1949; B MUS (Juilliard) 1972, M MUS (Juilliard) 1973, D MUS (Juilliard) 1979. He studied in Winnipeg 1955-9 with Kenneth Murphy, 1959-60 with Peggie Sampson, and 1960-5 with Claude Kenneson. Other teachers included Leonard Rose at the Meadowmount School, New York State (summers 1962-4), Guy Fallot and Paul Tortelier at the JMC Orford Art Centre (summers 1966-8), and Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro during his years at the Juilliard School. He won a bronze medal at the 1971 Geneva International Competition and the Morris Loeb Prize in 1972 and also received Canada Council doctoral fellowships 1974-6. Following his 1965 orchestral debut with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Saint-Saëns' Concerto in A Minor), he was solo cello 1971-5 of the Juilliard Ensemble and principal cello 1972-4 of the Juilliard Theatre Orchestra. In 1972 he became the cello of the Emerson String Quartet, which has performed in Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and which won the Naumburg Award in 1978. Wilson has appeared in recital and as a soloist with orchestras in England, Scandinavia, and the USA. In Canada he has given public recitals in Toronto and Winnipeg and has appeared with the CBC Festival Orchestra. He has been heard over the PBS radio network in the USA. In 1970 with the Juilliard Orchestra he gave the New York premiere of the Ligeti Cello Concerto, and in 1973 with the Juilliard Chamber Ensemble he gave the North American premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies' Icons. He has given master classes at the University of Alberta and has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. In 1979 he joined the Department of Music at the University of British Columbia. In 1991 he continued to give recitals and master classes and adjudicate throughout western Canada.

See also J. Kerr Wilson (his father), Thelma Wilson (his mother), Carlisle Wilson (his brother), and Kerrine Wilson (his sister).

Writings

'Waiting for the unicorn,' Canadian String Teachers Association Notes, vol 4, Spring 1980