Works performed by Earplay:

Manners of Speaking
Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Eric Zivian is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Yale School of Music. He studied composition with Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and Martin Bresnick and piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center both as a composer and as a performer, studying composition with Oliver Knussen and Alexander Goehr. He has also attended summer programs in composition at the Scotia Music Festival, June in Buffalo and the Wellesley Composers' Conference, participating in seminars with Mario Davidovsky, Ross Bauer, James Primosch, David Felder, and Donald Erb, among others.

Mr. Zivian's compositions have been performed widely in the U. S. and Japan, and have earned him numerous prizes. He was awarded an ASCAP Jacob Druckman Memorial Commission to compose Three Character Pieces, which was premiered by the Seattle Symphony in March 1998. An earlier orchestral work, Quincunx, was commissioned by the Paul Jacobs Memorial Fund and performed by the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra in 1994. His Double Fugue for string quartet was commissioned by the Brentano Quartet and performed in New York's Alice Tully Hall and at many other venues.