In a dynamic career that combines performance, scholarship and collaborative leadership, conductor Eric Stark shares his love of music-making with musicians and audiences in Indiana, the United States, and beyond. Believing strongly in music’s power to bring people together, Stark has led collaborations with such partners as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, American Pianists Association, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana Repertory Theater, Butler University, Indianapolis Children’s Choir , Jordan College Academy of Dance, Newfields, Clowes Memorial Hall, the Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus, and Orquesta Sinfonica Juvenil de Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia). In 2012, Stark served as chorus master for the National Football League’s Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, featuring Madonna, Cee Lo Green, Nicki Minaj and LMFAO.
Stark’s work as artistic collaborator and community leader has been both broad and unique. In 2014 he received the State of Indiana’s highest honor—Sagamore of the Wabash. His musical leadership continues to receive international recognition as well, including acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, the Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall, Shanghai’s Oriental Art Center Concert Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Hong Kong City Center Concert Hall, São Paulo’s Teatro Municipal, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Strathmore Hall in Bethesda, MD. Named a Fulbright Scholar in 2020, Stark accepted invitations to conduct and teach at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and the Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and served as guest conductor of the acclaimed Coral Paulistano in São Paulo. He has also made conducting and masterclass appearances in Greece, Italy, Argentina, Japan and Uruguay, and has led choirs on domestic tours in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa.
His choruses are heard on multiple compact discs, including A Festival of Carols with Sylvia McNair (Naxos 2019), Mohammed Fairouz’s Zabur (Naxos 2016), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (2011); From East to West (2005), The Harmonies of Hoosier History, (2001) with the Indianapolis Arts Chorale, and A Festival of Carols (1997) with the Muncie, IN Masterworks Chorale.
In addition to his duties as Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Stark is also Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts. There he conducts the Butler Chorale and Chamber Singers and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and choral literature. His former conducting students have received appointments at leading choral positions around the United States, including Purdue University, Stetson University, Princeton University, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Los Angeles Opera, Fort Wayne Children’s Chorus and the University of Wisconsin. He has also served on the faculties of Christian Theological Seminary, Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne and Earlham College. A graduate of Wabash College, he holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University. Stark is also a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight, a non-profit network of pilots providing free air transportation for those with medical needs.
