Eric Larsen Endowed Fund for Piano

Funds enhance the work of the Piano Area in the School of Music through scholarships, student travel, instrument purchase or maintenance, and guest artists.

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Established through a bequest by Eric Charles Larsen.

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American pianist Eric Larsen has been heard in the major concert halls of Russia, Europe, South America, Asia and the United States. He was a member of both the Meadowmount Trio and the American Chamber Trio. His musical collaborations have included Joseph Silverstein, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Ransom Wilson, James Ehnes and the Mendelssohn, Alexander and Wihan String Quartets. His live performances have been broadcasted on NPR, WQXR, WFMT, Moscow State Radio and Colombian National Television. Mr. Larsen has recorded in Moscow for both Melodiya and Russian Disc, in Prague for Equilibrium, and Naxos and in the United States for Albany and HM Productions. His discography includes the complete Trios of Brahms, the complete Trios and Quartet of Turina as well as Trios of Beethoven, Dvorak, Ravel, and Tchaikovsky. His recording of the Chausson Concerto and the Piano Trio was released on Naxos in 2011. In 1991, he was asked to create a piano program at the Meadowmount School of Music, followed by his appointment as the Director of this legendary institution from 2009 to 2020.

Mr. Larsen’s students have won prizes in major international piano competitions including the Casagrande, Busoni, International Bach, Joseph Hofmann and UNISA Pretoria Competitions. He traveled frequently internationally to give solo and chamber music master classes. Mr. Larsen has been on the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts since 1979 and after retiring in 2017 stayed active as a member of the advisory board for the UNCSA Chamber Music Festival, as well as the Board of directors for the Meadowmount School of Music. UNCSA’s Piano Program had always occupied a special place in Eric Larsen’s heart and this gift is to ensure that the program continues to blossom and UNCSA maintains its status as one of the most unique and prestigious institutions in the country.