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Our Director, Dr. Erik "Highrise" Nordgren

A native of the Cleveland, Ohio area, Erik Nordgren has been an avid choral musician since grade school. He has been a member of the Penn Glee Club since 1992 (singing tenor and serving as Student Conductor), and has directed the group since 2000. During his student years at the University of Pennsylvania, Erik performed numerous leading roles in the annual productions of both the Penn Glee Club and the Penn Singers, and served as musical director of the Penn Pipers – and along the way, he obtained a master’s degree in physics and a doctorate in computational physical chemistry. As Director of the Club, he has enjoyed the honor and privilege of leading the Club in over one hundred performances – not only in the Philadelphia area, but in places ranging from New England to Florida, from Seattle to San Diego, from Chicago to New Orleans, from Monterrey to Montevideo, and from Beijing to Taipei to Hong Kong to Singapore. 

Besides directing the Club, Dr. Nordgren remains an active professional singer. He has held paid positions with The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia as well as with various churches and synagogues around the city. He has performed madrigals and other early music with Penn’s Ancient Voices and with The Bloom Consort. He was a member of the backup choir for performance tours by Michael Crawford (in 1998) and Barbra Streisand (in 2000). In 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2008, he performed at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England. In the summer of 2001, he spent five weeks in Italy with the Spoleto Festival opera chorus. And in 2007, he sang in the choir for the Pennsylvania Ballet's acclaimed new staging of Carmina Burana. Erik's life is made complete by his wonderful family – including his always-supportive wife Nonantzin, his adorable kids Sofia and Eduardo, and his three cats, Marvin, Maude and Maverick.