Eric Heumann is a composer, pianist, organist, teacher, and music director. His compositions have received notable awards, honors, and many performances across the United States. Of special note, Eric's composition, The War in Heaven (2019), was premiered by The Florida Orchestra in February 2022, directed by Michael Francis. This work was chosen as the winning composition in The Florida Orchestra's 2019 Student Composer Competition. Eric's recent solo organ work, In Memoriam A.C. (2021) has received multiple honors, including winning the 2022 Chattanooga AGO Young Composers' Competition and being selected for SCI Region II's 2022 annual conference.
Most recently, The Villages Philharmonic, directed by Maestro Pasquale Valerio, premiered Ancient Ruins for full orchestra in their February 2024 concert of American music. In February 2023, The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (Florida), premiered a movement, "The Final Judgment" of Eric's oratorio, The Book of Revelation, under the baton of John Sinclair. Other notable performances of Eric's orchestral works include premieres of his two chamber orchestra works, Celestial Objects, in 2021, and Gateway to the West, in 2017, both directed by Victor Huls. Additionally, Eric received premieres of his August Overture and Piano Concerto by the Rollins College Orchestra directed by John Sinclair in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Outside of orchestral music, highlights include Eric's solo piano piece, Shining Sun, commissioned by Kent Fuchs, President of the University of Florida, as well as Cosmos, a piece for pierrot ensemble, which was hand-picked by the Bold City Contemporary Ensemble for a United States tour. In 2024, Eric was also asked to write a new work, Whispers of Ethereality for cello and piano, which was premiered at the Howey Music Series' first annual gala event. Eric also served as the artist-in-residence for the Foundation for Modern Music in Houston in 2018, where he received additional performances of his work, including a premiere of a string quartet work, NeveroddoreveN. In addition to these performances, Eric has worked closely with prestigious ensembles such as the JACK quartet, the Unheard-of//Ensemble, the Apollo Chamber Players, and Formosa Duo, as well as well-known solo artists such as Irvine Arditti, violin, and Anne Laver, organ.
Eric's compositional drive has often been fueled by collaborations. He has arranged seven works for the Rollins Christmas Vespers Services as well as four more for the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and numerous Christmas and hymn titles for choir, handbell choir, and soloists at Woodlands Lutheran Church. Additionally, Eric has created film scores for local short films, some jingles for commercials, and two pieces (an original Alma Mater and Fight Song) for Bishop McGuinness High School in North Carolina.
A native Floridian, Eric Heumann received a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Florida in 2022, where he studied with Paul Richards, James Paul Sain, and Scott Lee for music composition, and Laura Ellis for sacred music. Before this, Eric earned a Master of Music at the University of Houston, where he studied music composition with Rob Smith, Marcus Maroney, and David Ashley White; and a Bachelor of Arts in music at Rollins College, where he studied music composition with Daniel Crozier, piano with Gloria Cook, and organ with George Atwell. Along the way, Eric has had the privilege of participating in master classes with composers such as John Harbison, Stephen Montague, Stephen Paulus, Kamran Ince, and Chris Rogerson among others.
Eric resides in Clermont, Florida with his wife, mezzo-soprano Emily Heumann, and their son, Lucas. Eric currently serves as Assistant Director of Music at Woodlands Lutheran Church in Montverde and as an Adjunct Faculty member at the College of Central Florida in Ocala.
