Dr. Eric Stark, Professor, Director of Butler Chorale and
Butler Madrigal Singers
In a dynamic career that combines
performance, scholarship and collaborative leadership, conductor
Eric Stark has established himself as a choral-orchestral
specialist. During the 2012 concert season, he lead over 300
musicians in an acclaimed performance of the
massive Grande Messe des
Morts (Requiem) by
Hector Berlioz with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the
Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and the Butler University Chorale
("The 'Dies irae'…is one of the most thrilling episodes in the
chorus-orchestra literature, and Stark managed it with aplomb."
Indianapolis Star). He made his debut as guest
conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in a 2008
presentation of Handel's Messiah ("galvanic performance….the Choir sang
excellently throughout." Nuvo Newsweekly). His Kennedy
Center debut in Washington, DC with the Washington Chorus was also
met with critical and popular acclaim ("Eric Stark had the chorus
singing crisply and brightly….its rich, close harmonies
shimmering." Washington Post).
Stark has also led performances of Britten's War Requiem
and Saint Nicolas,
Mendelssohn's
Elijah and Die erste
Walpurgisnacht, Orff's Carmina
Burana, Bach's Mass
in B minor, the Weihnachts-Oratorium
and numerous cantatas, Handel's Messiah
and Israel in
Egypt, Zipoli's Te
Deum, Beethoven's Mass in C, Mozart's "Coronation" Mass and
Requiem, Brahms's
Ein deutsches Requiem, the Poulenc Gloria, Fauré's Requiem,
and Lauridsen's
Lux Aeterna. He
has prepared choruses for such notable conductors as Nicholas
McGegan, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Mario
Venzago, Carl St. Clair, Erich Kunzel, Krzysztof Urbanski and Jack
Everly. His choruses are heard on multiple compact discs, including
Mendelssohn's
Elijah (2011); From East to
West (2005) a holiday
compilation with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir; The Harmonies of Hoosier
History, (2001)
featuring works by Indiana composers performed by the Indianapolis
Arts Chorale; and
A Festival of Carols (1997) with the Muncie, IN Masterworks
Chorale.
In addition to his duties as Artistic Director of the Indianapolis
Symphonic Choir, Stark is also Professor of Music, Director of
Graduate Studies and Assistant Chair of the School of Music at
Butler University's Jordan College of the Arts. There he conducts
the Butler Chorale, teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting
and choral literature, and serves as coordinator of the vocal and
choral areas. His former conducting students have received
appointments at leading choral positions around the United States,
including Stetson University, Princeton University, San Francisco
Girls Chorus, Los Angeles Opera, Fort Wayne Children's Chorus and
the University of Wisconsin. In 2003 and 2009 he taught a Butler
University honors course he designed Putting Wings on
Dreams--The First 100 Years of Powered Flight, using the
dramatic stories of aviation pioneers as case studies in human
determination and innovation. He has served on the faculties of
Christian Theological Seminary, Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne and
Earlham College. He received the doctoral degree in choral
conducting from Indiana University, where he was a student of Jan
Harrington, Robert Porco, and Thomas Dunn. A 1988 graduate of
Wabash College, he is also a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight, a
non-profit network of pilots providing free air transportation for
those with medical needs.
(317) 940-9981
estark@butler.edu