Raymond Erickson has taught historical performance practice since 1975.  A performer with a Ph.D. in Music History from Yale, he studied piano with Margaretha Lohmann and Nadia Reisenberg and harpsichord with Ralph Kirkpatrick and Albert Fuller.  Since the early 1970s he has been intensely involved with the early music movement, performing in the first New York performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 on period instruments (1974) and in the first American recording, by Aston Magna, of the concertos.  His courses stress the incorporation of historical performance practices, such as improvisation, into contemporary musical life and he has lectured widely on improvisation for classical musicians as well as incorporated improvisations into his own harpsichord and piano concert programs.  In October 2003, he played a series of solo piano recitals incorporating improvised preludes in California and Germany.

A familiar pre-concert lecturer for period-instrument ensembles performing in New York, he was recently honored with a residency under the Endowed Chair in Music program at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) and a William H. Scheide Research Grant from the American Bach Society.