Biography

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Eri Isomura is a percussionist and marimbist from St. Paul, Minnesota. Eri is a founding member of 10th Wave Chamber Collective, a Twin Cities-based ensemble featuring classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries, which served as an MPR Class Notes Artist ensemble for 21-22. She is also an Ensemble Artist of the Heartland Marimba Ensemble since 2019. She has recently performed in a variety of musical styles with the Minnesota Opera, Duluth Symphony, Theater Mu, Cantus, National Lutheran Choir, Zeitgeist, Border CrosSing and others. Recording projects include the album "Twelve Months in Minnesota" (2023) consisting of percussion solos composed by Asuka Kakitani, "Musical Moments for Cello and Marimba" (2021) with her father Sachiya Isomura, a former cellist in the Minnesota Orchestra, "Champagne Confetti" self-titled pop classical album(2023), among others.

 

While studying at the Boston Conservatory, she was a member of the New England Philharmonic and performed with the Brookline Symphony Orchestra. She performed for the "Times Two Series," a new music initiative based in Boston. She performed in John Luther Adams' piece Inuksuit, a percussion piece written for the outdoors at the Tippett Rise Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. She has commissioned and/or premiered works for marimba by local composers such as Asako Hirabayashi, Asuka Kakitani, Michael Maiorana, Ian A Cook, Elwyn A Fraser Jr., Jonathan Posthuma, and others.

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As an educator, Eri was percussion faculty at St. Olaf College from 2018-2023, and a percussion class teacher at Yinghua Academy 2020-2023, and President of the Percussive Arts Society Minnesota Chapter. She has been a clinician at the Minnesota Percussion Association, adjudicated local competitions and high school solo and ensemble days, and teaches private lessons. As a piano instructor she is a member of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association as well as the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum. She has been a guest panelist for the Minnesota Orchestra Pre-Concert Talk and St. Olaf Arts Entrepreneurship, as well as a guest on music podcasts.

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Eri’s diverse musical background began with classical piano with Jean Krinke and percussion with Robert Adney. She continued her percussion and marimba studies with David Hagedorn, and drumset with Phil Hey at St. Olaf College, where she received her B.M. in Percussion Performance with Distinction in 2011. She completed her M.M. in Percussion Performance at The Boston Conservatory under the tutelage of Keith Aleo, Doug Perkins, Samuel Z Solomon, and Nancy Zeltsman. 

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Eri is a Koide Cymbals Artist.

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Eri gives thanks to God for the wonderful opportunities in music and the vital support of her loving family and friends.