Thursday, July 22, 10:00 AM
Travis, Erik Nathan Eden Prairie, MN Oct. 16, 1957 - July 15, 2021 Preceded in death by his parents, Esther and Larry Travis. Survived by his wife, Theresa Carr; his son, Jeremy Travis (Laryn) and grandson, Henry of Texas. Also brother, Sven (Louisa) of New York, brother, Kort of Perth Australia and sister, Bryn of Maine and many beautiful, loving nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Erik loved music and began imitating sounds like the garbage disposal and vacuum cleaner as a toddler. His parents frequently found him at the stereo turntable in his diapers changing records himself and bopping happily. He began piano studies at age 5 with Ardella Schaub in Los Angeles. He started studying the pipe organ when his legs were long enough to reach the pedals, about 11. By the time he was in high school he had performed most of the major organ repertoire of Bach, Franck and Widor in concert from memory. At 15 he won a youth piano competition and the prize was performing with Madison, WI Symphony Orchestra. The conductor was pleased and invited Erik back that year. Erik was a piano performance major at UW Wisconsin studying with Mr. Carroll Chilton, and then attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM). Once, after winning a piano competition, his teacher at the time said "You should not have won. You don't practice enough." Erik held an Artist Diploma in Organ and Master's degrees in piano performance and choral conducting from CCM. He did additional piano study at Indiana University with Menahem Pressler and more recently with Emanual Ax at the Juilliard School in NYC. He studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw and became his choral conducting assistant. In 1982 he won the bronze medal in the American Music Scholarship Association (AMSA) International Piano Competition. 1984 he won an all-Bach marathon in Washington, DC, sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. He signed with ICM in NYC for both piano and organ. He appeared with many leading orchestras including those in London, New York, Tokyo, Detroit, Cleveland, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.The New York Times called Erik "a pianists' pianist". Erik had many war stories from those days. He recalled getting a nose bleed during a performance with an orchestra. The conductor paused the concert so he could attend to the bleed off-stage. Once, while playing the organ at the Cathedral in Mexico City, he developed the flu, complete with vomiting. After playing with Cleveland Symphony Orchestra he awoke in his hotel room to terrible pain and spent the next three weeks in a Cleveland hospital. He was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes and decided to stop concertizing as actively. He came to MN to be Director of Liturgy and Music at Our Lady of Grace (OLG) Catholic Church in Edina and had the rare opportunity to design his own Austin pipe organ. Erik played as well as directed six choirs at OLG. The Schola Cantorum was invited to perform Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" at the Vatican. Monsignor Pablo Colino, the pope's music director, could see the choir was short on Basses so he began singing the bass part from memory. Madame Langlais invited Erik to give a Franck recital at Franck's parish, Sainte-Chlotilde in Paris and Schola also performed. Funeral Mass Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Edina,Thursday, July 22, Visitation 9:30 AM; Funeral 10:30 AM. Luncheon immediately following.