“ Rebecca Erickson's marvelously exuberant clarinet <playing> radiates with pure joy... ”
-John Townsend, Minneapolis Star and Tribune

Unusual as it is being an adopted Korean Swedish Jew, Rebecca found a way to incorporate her Jewish heritage into her music by playing Eastern European Jewish Folk music. She was classically-trained, but specializes in and predominantly performs Klezmer. 

At the age of 14, Rebecca came across clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Richard was an immense influence and powerful role model for Rebecca and in the development of her musical style. She proceeded to keep in correspondence with him via letter-writing for over two years and was invited to attend his Clarinet Summit in Boston, MA in the summer of 1995. During her high school years, Rebecca joined the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS) and went on tour with the Symphony to Eastern Europe in 1999, playing in Krakow, Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. That same year, Rebecca was honored to study classical clarinet with Mr. Burt Hara, principle clarinetist of The Minnesota Orchestra and The New York Philharmonic. In 2000, she was awarded a half-tuition scholarship to the University of Minnesota, School of Music.

Rebecca graduated from the U of MN in 2005 with a degree in Music Performance. Only one short year after graduation, she met Judith Eisner, Klezmer fiddler and founder of Eisner's Klezmorim band (www.myspace.com/eisnersklezmorimband). Judith took an immense liking to Rebecca and offered her a position as lead clarinetist of the band. Eisner's Klezmorim performs old-world style Klezmer music around the Twin Cities and has performed at numerous venues, such as: Cafe Maude, The Kitty Cat Klub, the MacPhail Center for Music, the Illusion Theater, the Minnesota History Center, and the Sabes Jewish Community Center. 

Less than three months after Rebecca joined Eisner's Klezmorim, and began learning the Klezmer style, she was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to the prestigious Klezkanada Yiddish Folk Arts Festival in Montreal, Quebec for the summers of 2006 and 2008. After returning to Montreal the second time, she was personally invited for private study in New York City with the world-renowned Klezmer clarinetist, David Krakauer, and for private study in Chicago with the master Klezmer clarinetist, Kurt Bjorling. Rebecca studied with Mr. Bjorling during the winter of 2008. In the Spring of 2009, Rebecca ventured to New York City for the first time on her own, and studied with Mr. Krakauer.  Presently, Rebecca is freelancing in the folk and jazz music scene in Minneapolis and performs reguarly with Eisner's Klezmorim.  She plans to attend Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in the Spring of 2011 for her masters degree in Child Psychology.