Eric Shimelonis is a composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist. His work ranges from orchestral music to the popular, and spans film, television, theatre, and dance.
As a score composer, he has been involved with both feature films and television documentaries. The film “Winter Passing” was another in a long line of collaborations with writer/director Adam Rapp, and put Eric face to face with Will Ferrell, Ed Harris, and Zooey Deschanel, as they worked closely to bring the onscreen music to life. In association with nature filmmaker Daniel Breton, he has scored a number of award winning documentaries for the National Audubon Society and for the Houston Zoo, and in collaboration with Discovery they earned a 2008 Daytime Emmy Award.
Eric has worked on over 200 plays in New York, regionally, and internationally. He has enjoyed long-term collaborations with such theatres as the Atlantic, Arena Stage, The Juilliard School, Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick, Southern Rep, Studio Theatre, and Theatreworks USA. He was the recipient of a 2002-2004 National Endowment for the Arts Grant, and was nominated for a 2007 Lucille Lortel Award.
In the classical music world, Eric has served as assistant-director with both the Philadelphia and Boston Symphony Orchestras for Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du Soldat.” His string quartets have been performed in New York City, and he is completing a cycle of art songs to the poetry of Ilene Starger to be performed by F. Murray Abraham.
As conductor, Eric is the director of the Voice of the City Ensemble in New York City, and will be leading the orchestra in the New Orleans production of the Broadway hit “Grey Gardens” this May.
