Eric Nyland

Eric is a pianist (ARCT, LRCM) and actor (BFA, CAEA). For twenty years, Eric has worked professionally in theatre, film, voiceover, music, and music pedagogy throughout Canada. He runs a private teaching studio in Calgary and is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators’ Association.He serves as the piano program coordinator, vocal coach, and pianist at Cassa Musical Arts, as well as the provincial piano competition convenor for the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association, and works as an active festival adjudicator at all levels.

Eric developed and taught two courses for Mount Royal University (Introductory Keyboard for Adults – Learn to Read, and Play by Ear/Improvisation), and served as the musical director for the long-form theatre improvisation duo One Lions (winner, Best Show at Vancouver International Improv Festival, 2016). In 2015, Eric appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto for the inaugural concert of the Calgary Arts Orchestra, and in 2016 he served as composer, music director, and lead actor in Armin Wiebe’s The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz for the Station Arts Centre. He is the winner of the 2013 Jack Friedenberg Memorial Scholarship for pianists and was nominated for the 2015 Outstanding Actor in a Play by the Calgary Theatre Critics’ Awards for his work in the world premiere of Nicholas Billon’s Butcher. He has studied with Linda Kundert, Dr. Lillian Upright, and Dr. Irena Kofman, and has taken masterclasses from Dr. Jennifer Snow, Dr. Jacques Despres, and Dr. Ludmilla Lazar.

Eric is writing a musical with Derek Stoll as a commission by Cassa Musical Arts to debut August of 2023.