Education
New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music
Originally from the Delaware Valley, Eric Joseph Rizzo is a musician and teacher based in New England. He holds degrees from New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music, and is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts at UConn, where he is a recipient of the Graduate School’s Harriott Fellowship. As a performer, he is a member of the Boston Festival Orchestra and has performed with the Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport, Eastern Connecticut, and New Bedford Symphony Orchestras, the Vista and Rhode Island Philharmonics, and the United States Coast Guard Band, among others. In 2020, he was a finalist in the Ictus International Music Competition for his recording of Mauricio Kagel’s Morceau de Concours, composed in 1977 for solo trumpet. Deeply committed to education, Eric has worked closely with students throughout the northeast. In 2025 he traveled to Guiyang, China, where he served as a Visiting Foreign Expert Teacher at Guizhou Polytech. He is currently the brass instructor at Pomfret School and Rectory School, both in Pomfret, CT.
Teaching Philosophy
As a musician, I strive daily to connect to centuries of tradition in the arts. As an artist and a teacher, it is my goal to create environments where people can transcend themselves and find connections, both in the moment, and across time with other cultures, traditions, and peoples. Using these values as a foundation, my students are able to explore music in a personally meaningful way as well as build their understanding of the purpose of a performing artist in their community.