“It was 2003, and I came to NYC with Greg Cornelius who is a saxophonist and composer at Bowling Green. And he and I were driving in his Dodge Caravan and I think we were listening to Music for 18 Musicians, and it was raining, and I remember seeing the city lights of New York, and just being overwhelmed with this idea that I need to be here.”
Erin Rogers is a saxophonist and composer based in New York City. She is co-artistic director and core member of thingNY, Popebama, New Thread Quartet and Hypercube. Her music has been performed at the Prototype, Ecstatic, and MATA Festivals (NYC), Celebrity Series (Boston), Edmonton Fringe Festival, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City), and NYmusikk Bergen (Norway). Rogers is a member of LA super-group WildUp, and performs with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, and Wet Ink. She is a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Teaching Artist. Rogers can be heard on New Focus Recordings, New World Records, Edition Wandelweiser, Gold Bolus, Love Records, INNOVA, New Amsterdam, and Relative Pitch labels. erinmrogers.com
I have known Erin for a few years now. Specifically, before leaving New Jersey and heading to Bowling Green, OH to start my graduate work, I saw her saxophone quartet, New Thread Quartet, perform at a church in Jersey City, NJ. After the performance, I introduced myself. We ended up on the topic of me going to grad school and it turned out she is a BGSU alum! What little I knew about Bowling Green, and here I am in NJ meeting someone who went through the program and is doing such awesome work!
I’ve been a fan ever since. Erin is so incredibly hard-working, juggling a varied and wide-ranging freelancing career as a composer and performer in NYC. Recently, she released a solo album titled 2,000 miles, which you can purchase on Bandcamp. Our discussion center almost entirely on the making of 2,000 miles, topics like her improvisational/compositional process, the recording process, traveling from NYC to her hometown in Alberta, Canada, the artistic solutions that grew out of being quarantined, and so much more on episode 24 of the Making Noise Podcast.
I hope you enjoy it!
Follow Erin’s Work: www.erinmrogers.com
Erin’s album on Bandcamp: 2,000 Miles
Check out some awesome up-coming performances of Erin’s (NYC):
Dec 2 - Marilyn Shrude 75th Birthday Celebration // New Thread Quartet, Lost Dog, Momenta Quartet
Dec 11 - Works by Popebama + Rick Burkhardt
Dec 15 - Hypercube: Works by New York Women Composers
Dec 17 - Kathy Supové premieres Constancy // Bargemusic: Here & Now Winter Festival Day 2
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where you can listen to music, purchase scores, and learn how to commission a new piece for your ensemble.