Eric Nestler has been on the faculty of the University of North Texas College of Music since 1992. He is currently Professor of Music, and formerly chaired the Doctor of Musical Arts degree committee. Nestler has served as a member of the summer music faculty of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and has taught on the faculty of Vincennes University, Indiana.
Nestler presented his New York debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in May 2003 and continues to be an active recitalist and clinician throughout the United States and abroad. In the new millennium, Nestler was a featured soloist at the World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Canada as well as the North American Saxophone Alliance National Conventions in Tucson, AZ; Greensboro, NC; and Columbia, SC. Internationally, Nestler has performed solo recitals in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, South Africa and has traveled to Europe where he performed several solo recitals including performances at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, the Prague Conservatory, the Leos Janacek Academy in Brno, the Czech Republic, and Castlefranco, Veneto, Italy. He has also performed extensively in Asia, including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tianjin, China. In November 2004, Nestler was a featured artist at the Asian Saxophone Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Nestler hosted the North American Saxophone Alliance Region IV Conference in 1995 and the 2002 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference. Nestler served as the Executive Vice President of the 2003 World Saxophone Congress Organizing Committee and is currently the Secretary of the International Committee. Nestler has published several articles and reviews in the Saxophone Symposium and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal. His article "An Analysis of the Prélude, Cadence et Finale by Alfrèd Desenclos" was published in the Saxophone Symposium.
Nestler has recorded a master class CD for the Saxophone Journal entitled "Baroque Ornamentation for the Saxophone". Nestler commissioned and premiered music by James Aikman, David Dzubay, John Harbison, Joseph Klein, and Gunther Schuller.
Nestler earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, Summa Cum Laude, from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA, where he was a student of Donald Beckie. He has since received both the Master of Music degree in Woodwind Instruments, with High Distinction, and the Doctor of Music Literature and Performance degree in Saxophone, Clarinet, and Bassoon, with High Distinction, from the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN. He studied with Eugene Rousseau (saxophone), James Campbell (clarinet), and Sidney Rosenberg (bassoon).
