Erik Ralske

Erik Ralske, was appointed by Maestro James Levine as Principal Horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra beginning with the 2010/2011 season. On July 6, 2010 he was featured in a front-page article in The New York Times for having won both the MET Opera position and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Horn position in the same week! 

 Prior to joining the Met, he was a member of the New York Philharmonic, Houston and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras. During his tenure with the NY Philharmonic, Ralske performed as soloist over a dozen times under Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, in New York, Europe and South America. He has been in demand as a guest Principal of many of the world’s greatest orchestras, such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the LA Philharmonic.

Erik Ralske has long been active in the recording industry, having performed on many movie soundtracks – from Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986), to many recent releases, such as A Dog’s Purpose (2017). His 2011 live performance of Siegfried’s Horn Call is available on iTunes as a MET Opera Ring Tone.

Currently, he is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes College of Music. He received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. His primary teachers were Ranier DeIntinis, John Cerminaro and Myron Bloom.