Erik Gronfor spent two years of college thinking that becoming an electrical engineer was a good idea before transferring to the Curtis Institute of Music to study bass with Roger Scott. Upon graduating, he took a job as the principal bassist of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, a job that required him to lifeguard mornings at the “Y”, teach SAT and GRE test prep classes, and work as an orchestra librarian to make ends meet (he spent most of that year thinking that electrical engineering would have been a good idea). One year later he moved to Charleston, South Carolina as principal bassist of the Charleston Symphony and quit his other jobs.

In 1999 he followed his wife, Joan DerHovsepian, to Houston when she got a job in the Houston Symphony viola section. This proved to be a great move, allowing Erik to complete a Master’s degree with Paul Ellison at the Shepherd School of Music and enjoy the many professional opportunities the city has to offer. Besides being a member of ROCO, Erik is a member of the Houston Grand Opera and an active freelancer. He has performed with the Houston Symphony, the Texas Music Festival, the Houston Ballet, Mercury Baroque, and Ars Lyrica.

Each summer he participates in the Grand Teton Festival in Jackson, WY, where he spends much of his free time hiking, and the Peninsula Music Festival in Fish Creek, WI, where he spends much of his free time biking. He has toured with the New York City Opera Company, and participated in Music at Gretna and the Spoleto Dock Street Chamber Music Series. A dedicated teacher, Erik taught on faculty at the College of Charleston, and currently teaches each summer at the American Festival for the Arts in Houston.

Erik and Joan have a five-year-old daughter, Clara, who can’t spend enough time in swimming pools. Erik enjoys sketching portraits, going to the gym, and hunting down fine wine bargains in his limited free time.