Eric Lenz recently joined NAU as School of Music Director. He is excited to work with new colleagues and staff, as NAU continues to nurture student success and chart new paths for music and the arts.

Lenz’s previous appointment was Professor and School of Music Director at Southern Illinois University, where he taught courses in a variety of areas, including cello, chamber music, music theory and aural skills. He has held tenured chairs with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra and the Huntsville Symphony. Lenz has also performed with the Alabama Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival USA, and Brevard Music Center, where he was orchestral fellow.

As teaching artist, Lenz has served on faculty at Lutheran Summer Music, Illinois Chamber Music Festival, Cello Day at Millikin University, String Workshop at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and Festival Suoni D’Abruzzo (Italy). Around the world, Lenz has performed in venues such as the Banff Centre, Bartok Radio Budapest, the Chinese Central Conservatory in Beijing, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. Lenz double majored in music and mathematics at St. Olaf College, where he graduated summa cum laude with distinction for his work in both fields, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He holds graduate degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Stephen Geber, principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and the University of Alabama, where he was awarded the Moody String Fellowship. Lenz also studied in France at the Conservatoire National d’Angers and in the Czech Republic at the Institut franco-tchèque. Lenz loves all forms of chamber music. His coaches have included the Emmerson, Guarnari, Cleveland, Cavani, and Juilliard quartets.

Lenz has premiered dozens of new compositions through his work with Neoteric and Outside the Box Festival of New Music. His playing can be heard on recordings such as Neoteric Plays Hoffer and Crossings, both released on Albany Records.