Eric Oberthaler [eO] is a S.F. Bay Area-based producer, composer, performer and director. Having earned his B.M. at Oberlin Conservatory (1993) and M.F.A. at CalArts (1996) – both in traditional music composition – he has since honed his skills in digital audio production, sound design, mastering, music direction, and live performance. His music is immersive, his style kaleidoscopic, and his tastes broad – bridging the music of many cultures and melting walls between genres. He is currently developing innovative adaptive music systems as a natural outgrowth of his unique compositional techniques and meta-stylistic music theory.

In December 2015 he was awarded the top prize in 8Dio’s Stand-Out Contest, where judges included “Mason Levy (ex. Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Mat Kearney etc), Blake Neely (ex. Blindspot, Supergirl, Flash, Arrow etc), Jeremy Soule (ex. Sky-Rim, Guild Wars 2, Everquest etc), Jeff Pfeifer (Mr. Trailer himself) and David Newman (ex. Tarzan, Ice Age, Serenity, Galaxy Quest etc).” The judges’ comments about his winning piece, At Last Through Thinning Veils included “One of the most outstanding compositions I have heard for years. Fantastic production with everlasting changes. Beautiful and original use of instruments. He gets the most Creative Award … blazing his own trails … different in the best of ways … keep an eye on this guy – he might create his own entire “genre” of music. Congratulations and thanks for redefining the idea of standing out!”

Other awards include The Spectrasonics & Bob Moog Foundation’s OMG-1 Contest and a 2011 Excellence In Sound Design award from the SF Theater Critics Circle for his work with Sweet Can Circus. In 2009, eO’s work as director of world fusion ensemble Gamelan X came to the attention of TED music director Thomas Dolby – who called his piece Spiral Flower “one of the loveliest things I have ever heard.” This discovery led to eO producing a collaboration with Philadelphia-based UV-light dance-theater troupe ArcheDream for Humankind that premiered on the main stage at the 2009 TED Conference in Long Beach, CA.

Listen to Eric’s music: https://soundcloud.com/soundsliketree