Photo credit: Shayne Gray
Erika Nielsen is a multi-genre Canadian cellist who defies the odds of mental illness in her first book, Sound Mind: My Bipolar Journey From Chaos to Composure. Erika has a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, collaborative artist, orchestral player and educator, with a musicianship that spans Baroque and Classical traditions to Contemporary and Popular genres. She has had the privilege of performing with artists such as Grammy-winning Kanye West for both MTV Canada and Live at the Concert Hall series, and with Juno-winning Johnny Reid for Canada’s Walk of Fame. Based in Toronto, she performs as a chamber musician, as well as rock albums with Classic Albums Live, with 25-piece Toronto Motown band The Big Sound, and throughout Canada and the USA with ELO tribute Strange Magic. As a writer, Erika is a blog contributor to BPHope, a magazine for people with bipolar disorder, and is the author of wellness and mental health blog, Sound Mind. A passionate educator, Erika maintains a busy private studio and recently joined the faculty of National Music Camp of Canada. Also a visual artist, her collection of paintings, Chromaticism, has been showcased in both Toronto and Sudbury.
Visit Erika’s website at www.celloerika.com. You can also find her on www.soundmindbook.com and on Twitter and Instagram as @celloerika.
Books
Sound Mind