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Music with Minnesotans

Music with Minnesotans: Eric Nilsson

Music with Minnesotans: Eric Nilsson
Eric Nilsson and his sisters
Eric Nilsson comes from a musical family with three sisters all making their livings as string players.
Eric Nilsson

Eric Nilsson grew up in a family of girls, with three sisters and no brothers.

The whole gang played the violin and it was those sisters — Kristina, Elsa and Jenny Lind — who went on to professional careers.

And it was decided by family fiat that Eric was not putting in the time necessary to make it. So he would have to practice something else.

And that something else was law.

Though that doesn't keep Eric out of the concert hall — as an audience member — or out of helping the world of the professional orchestras — as a member of the governing board of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

And perhaps it's his deep background in music — or maybe it's his way with words as an attorney, but Eric gets inside what makes music speak to us, whether it's through the intellectual vs. the sensual in Bach, or the spirituality of Schubert or the idiosyncratic and quirky nature of Prokofiev.

Music is playing all the time at Nilsson Law Offices in downtown Minneapolis — partly because Eric says music just makes him smarter and tackling those thorny legal problems feels doable.


Eric Nilsson's playlist:


Billy McLaughlin
Billy McLaughlin
Ryan Taylor

Next week, guitarist and composer Billy McLaughlin is my guest. He shares his inspiring story of returning to the concert stage after battling with a career-ending condition, and also shares equally inspirational music.

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