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Erica Seguine
Award winning composer/arranger/conductor/pianist/educator and co-leader of the 21 musician "Erica Seguine | Shon Baker Orchestra"
About Me
Erica Seguine is a composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and educator living in the NYC area. In 2011 she
co-founded, with composer Shon Baker, their 21-musician ensemble, the Erica Seguine/Shon Baker
Orchestra (ESSBO.) Since then, they have performed all around NYC, including Birdland Jazz Club, the Jazz
Gallery, Lunar Faire (a witchy/weird night market/festival), Culture Lab LIC, ShapeShifter Lab, Tea
Lounge/Slope Lounge, Grace Church, and had a monthly residency for one year (2013) in Montclair, NJ. In
2017, New York Music Daily has said “In terms of majestic sweep, cinematic scope, and clever outside-of-
the-box humor, it’s hard to think of a more interesting group in big band jazz...” They were also written
about in a 2019 New York Times article by Giovanni Russonello about the current big band scene. In
August 2019, the orchestra went into Oktaven Audio to record their debut album, with Darcy James Argue
producing and Brian Montgomery engineering. It will be released March 31, 2023.
In addition to writing for and conducting the jazz orchestra, Erica is also the resident conductor and one of
the resident composers of the Meetinghouse Jazz Orchestra, a big band that rehearses new music by
emerging composers, as well as traditional big band repertoire, weekly in the city and puts on a few
concerts annually. She is also a conductor with The D.O.M.E. Experience, a multimedia experience with
dance, film, and studio orchestra, and has also conducted performances with Remy LeBoeuf’s Assembly of
Shadows, Meg Okura’s Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, the Joel Harrison Big Band, Sam Blakeslee’s
Large Ensemble, and PJ Rasmussen’s Boardwalk Big Band, conducting at venues including: Dizzy’s Club at
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland Jazz Club, Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, the Jazz Gallery, City Winery
NYC, and many more.
Erica’s compositions/arrangements have also been performed by many other ensembles, including the
Metropole Orchestra (The Netherlands), the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, (Los Angeles), the Danish Radio
Big Band (Denmark), the Brilliant Corners Large Ensemble (Japan), New York Youth Symphony Jazz (NYC),
the J-Orchestra (NYC), the Millenium Jazz Orchestra (The Netherlands), the Zurich Jazz Orchestra
(Switzerland), PJ Rasmussen’s Boardwalk Big Band (NYC), Greg Ruvolo’s Big Band (NYC), and many
college ensembles. She received the 2013 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Prize/2014 Manny Albam
Commission for “The Ravine”/”...And the Tire Swing Keeps Spinning...”, three ASCAP Foundation Herb
Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, the 2014 ASCAP Foundation Johnny Mandel Prize for “Reel”, three
ASCAP Plus Awards, and was one of 8 selected internationally to be part of the 2012 Metropole
Orchestra Arranger’s Workshop under Vince Mendoza, with Kurt Elling as soloist.
Erica has been blessed to study under many inspiring teachers. She graduated with a BM in Jazz Studies
and Contemporary Media- writing concentration from the Eastman School of Music in 2009, studying
composing/arranging under Bill Dobbins and piano under Harold Danko and Tony Caramia. She continued
her studies at William Paterson University, receiving an MM in Jazz Arranging in 2011, and studied
composing/arranging with Jim McNeely and Rich DeRosa. She was also a member of the long-standing
BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. Erica loves to champion new music, particularly in the big band scene, and
passes her knowledge on to her own composition and piano students, teaching private lessons and was a
Women In Jazz Organization (WIJO) mentor in 2019-2020. She is also a host with
JazzComposersPresent.com, an organization that presents weekly composer spotlights and listening
sessions from composers around the world for those wanting to learn more about the craft and process of
Jazz Composition.