A native of Wisconsin, Erika came to Chicago in 1989 to get her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at DePaul University. She returned to DePaul to get her Masters degree in Performance in 2005. Her primary teachers include Jonathan Boen, Oto Carillo, Greg Flint and Dan Gingrich. In the meantime, she has performed and taught extensively in the Chicago area. Erika was an associate member of the Civic Orchestra for the 2003/2004 season, and she was the principal horn of Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra from 2000 until 2005. As an active freelance musician in the Chicago area, Erika has appeared in the horn sections of Northbrook Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Concertante di Chicago, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. Last year, she played Schumann’s Konzertstucke with the Chicago Horn Quartet and the Northwest Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Since 2000, she has taught band and general music in the Evanston public school system. In her spare time, Erika enjoys social dancing, cooking and sewing.
