ABOUT ERIC
“Not only can his hands move like lightning like the Gipsy Kings but his voice is smooth, velvety and invokes a strength that moves even the biggest music skeptic" - The Port Theatre
What happens when a North American suburban teenage metalhead is thrust into the rigorous classical conservatory world of Portugal?
For Eric Harper it resulted in an explosive chemical reaction of craft and creativity, and the development of a style of guitarring almost a genre unto himself.
Having achieved impeccable musicianship and craft during his European conservatory training, Eric took on the new challenge of studying film scoring at Berklee School of Music. By the time of his graduation, Eric had found his full stride as composer-singer-songwriter, with a style that evokes a mad but moving medley of The Dave Matthews Band, the Gipsy Kings and music a la Cirque du Soleil.
Eric began his musical education at the age of 8 where he studied drums for 6 years. At the age of 12 he took his first guitar lesson and fell in love. Three years later his parents and him packed their bags and moved across the Atlantic to Portugal where his mom enrolled him in the Conservatory of Music Calouste Gulbenkian. He studied classical music there for two years with a focus on classical guitar. Afterwards, he moved to the city of Porto to continue his studies in classical music at the Professional School of Music where he finished his studies three years later. After earning a diploma in classical music, he then moved to Boston to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music. He earned a four-year degree graduating Magna Cum Laude in only two and a half years.
From there, Eric moved to Los Angeles to form a band with his brother where they fused the genres of rock with flamenco. For 8 years their band, MimosA, toured the States and Canada which culminated in a show in Victoria, BC, having sold out the McPherson Theatre on the same night that Sarah McLachlan was performing.
In his time in LA, Eric worked with artists such as Andy Grammer, KC Porter, Lin Cheng and JB Eckl; released his first solo project entitled "Romper a Madrugada". Scored his first movie entitled Waiting Alone, composed for David Vanacore and 5 Alarm Music placing songs on shows such as Top Gear and Kitchen Nightmares.
In 2009 Eric moved from the US to Canada to start a new chapter on Vancouver Island. In 2010 he released his self-titled album “Eric Harper” garnering the attention of The Office’s Rainn Wilson. Since moving to Nanaimo, Eric has opened for Current Swell, Kim Churchill, Grammy-award winning musician Alex Cuba, worked with Juno-award winning producer Joby Baker and released his instrumental album entitled “Ribeira”.
In 2014 Eric fulfilled one of his dreams and moved to the city of Victoria. Since then he’s won an Emmy, performed all over Canada, the US, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, France, Israel, China, Mexico and India, written music for over 3600 TV episodes including How I Met Your Mother, Shameless, The Originals, Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour, won the New York Film and European Independent Film Awards for his work on the movie Wished, won the Guitar Mania Contest, the ReREC Contest, released his album “The Very Best of Eric Harper”.
Currently he’s working on the music for a never seen before show called The One Show involving 100 aeralists suspended in a 100 ft hexagonal stage. Release date is set for 2024.
Eric's live show melds a bravura virtuosity with hilarity and heart-felt storytelling from his times living, learning, and loving deeply in multiple countries and cultures. As anyone who has seen an Eric Harper show can attest, there will be a lot of laughs and tears and dancing.