Eric Sawyer is the composer of an extensive catalog ranging from opera and orchestral music to chamber music and songs. His musical vocabulary integrates a variety of traditions in American music, with an emphasis on rich and expressive harmonies.
The premieres of Sawyer’s four operas over 2008-2025 have brought together some of New England’s best known vocalists, ensembles, and conductors. Our American Cousin (libretto by John Shoptaw), a re-telling of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater from the perspective of the theater troupe, was released on BMOP/sound following its premiere by BMOP and Gil Rose in 2008. Sawyer’s next two operas drew on historical events in Northampton, Massachusetts, near his home in Amherst. The Garden of Martyrs (libretto by Harley Erdman) depicts the 1806 railroading of two Irish immigrants on a murder charge, in a climate of nativist hysteria. The opera was premiered by the Springfield Symphony and Kevin Rhodes in 2013, just steps away from where the unfortunate men were tried. The Scarlet Professor (libretto by Harley Erdman) concerns accusations of obscenity against a closeted gay English professor at Smith College in 1960, and the destruction of lives and friendships that resulted. This work was premiered in 2017 on the Smith College campus along with a colloquium about the 1960 events, double cast with professionals and students as a Five College Opera presentation, with Eduardo Leandro leading an orchestra of Five College faculty. The Onion (libretto by Eric Sawyer and Ron Bashford), named for an invention that can bring back memories with a sense of visceral reality, is scheduled for premiere in Amherst and Boston in fall 2025.
Besides for The Onion, Sawyer has written original lyrics for a number of song cycles and chamber vocal pieces, as well as for a cabaret musical, My Evil Twin (book by Harley Erdman), composed for identical twin operatic baritones Jim and John Demler who play themselves in the story of their lives. Sawyer’s works with original lyrics pursue a blurring of boundaries between operatic/classical and theatrical/popular vocal styles.
Sawyer grew up in Southern California, received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, and after several forays between the coasts returned to New England to stay. A committed teacher, he has taught music at UC Santa Cruz, MIT and Wellesley, and headed the Composition and Theory Program at Longy School of Music from 1998 to 2002. During this time he founded the critically acclaimed ensemble Longitude, presenting dozens of performances of new works, as well as playing frequently as a solo and chamber pianist. He also presented his compositions as a member of the consortium Composers in Red Sneakers and as part of a duo with violinist/composer Francine Trester, a collaboration that continues to this day. In 2002 Sawyer accepted a faculty position at Amherst College, where he currently chairs the music department.
Sawyer’s orchestral music has received performances since his days as a college student, when his mentor Leon Kirchner introduced two of his works with the Harvard Chamber Orchestra. He has a long history of writing for soloist with orchestra, stretching from an early cello concerto to Chamber Concerto for Tenor Saxophone, premiered in 2025. In addition to Leon Kirchner, Sawyer studied composition with Ross Bauer, Tison Street, Andrew Imbrie, Thomas Benjamin, and George Edwards.
Sawyer has been honored with the Joseph Bearns Prize, The American Prize for The Scarlet Professor (best opera, 2018), and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received fellowships from MacDowell Colony, Tanglewood, and Harvard University Society of Fellows. Among the notable ensembles he has collaborated with are Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Brentano String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Concord Orchestra, Essex Chamber Players, Springfield Symphony, Seraphim Singers, Radius Ensemble, Laurel Trio, Claremont Trio, Ives Quartet, Ives Collective, Lighthouse Chamber Players, Earplay, Empyrean, Seraphim Singers, Da Camera Singers, ReFlexus, Triple Helix, Lincoln Trio, Radnofsky Quartet, SUNY Stony Brook Contemporary Ensemble, Xanthos Ensemble, Mockingbird Trio, Pandora’s Vox, Carpe Diem String Quartet, Aurelius Piano Quartet. Besides his recorded music on the BMOP/sound label, his chamber music compilation String Works and his cantata The Humble Heart are available on compact disc from Albany Records.