Érico Fonseca is one of the most influential Brazilian trumpeters of his generation, with international experience as a performer and educator. Since 2008, he has been associated principal trumpet with the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, under the artistic direction of Fábio Mechetti, where he also participates in official chamber music projects. Since 2012, he's a professor at the Department of Music at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, where he develops teaching activities, promotes exchanges with trumpet professors and students from Brazil and the world, guides and coordinates research and many projects. He is an enthusiast of Distance Learning and includes, in his Online Course for Trumpeters, students from several Brazilian regions. Since 2022, he has a PhD in Music from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), where he developed his research on the Distance Teaching of Trumpet, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Paulo Ronqui. Between 2019 and 2022, he was a representative of Engelmam Mouthpieces, a brand of mouthpieces and accessories for trumpet, with which he developed his own line of customized products.

Born in the State of Rio de Janeiro, he began his studies at Sociedade Musical Beneficente Campesina Friburguense, where he had as mentors Uldemberg Fernandes, Vinicius Lugon, José Cândido da Costa and Paulo Newton Ennes. In 1999, he was chosen as 1st trumpeter of the Young Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Yeruham Schwarowsky.

In 2000, through a competition of young instrumentalists in his hometown, he was chosen by pianist and conductor Ricardo Castro as the winner of a scholarship at the Haute École de Musique de Suisse Romande (Campus Fribourg, Switzerland) in the class of Jean-François Michel (for ten years, first trumpeter of the Münchner Philharmoniker, Germany). In Switzerland, he graduated in Music Pedagogy in 2003 (with the highest distinction: excellent) and obtained a Master's in Interpretive Practice in 2005 (Prix de Virtuosité, with the highest distinction: summa cum laude). He also studied for a semester with Anthony Plog at the Musikhochschüle Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, in 2003.

In 2001, he held a week of master classes with Adolph Herseth, Markus Stockhausen, Peter Masseurs and Reinhold Friedrich during the Tromp Muziek Biennale in Eindhoven (Netherlands). In 2002, he was an active participant in master classes with Maurice André (Zürich Internationale Meisterkurse), Hakan Hardenberger and Urban Agnas (Académie Tibor Varga).

During the 2001 to 2003 seasons, he was an academic at the Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, and at the Berner Symphonieorchester, both in Switzerland. From 2005 to 2007, he was an academician at the Zurich Opera Orchestra (Philharmonia Zurich) where he was guided by professors Laurent Tinguely and William Nulty. An experienced symphonic-orchestral trumpeter, he has worked with internationally renowned conductors such as: Carlos Kalmar, Dmitri Kitayenko, Franz-Welser Möst, Marc Minkowski, Philippe Jordan, Alan Gilbert, Ádám Fischer, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Marco Armiliato, Christoph Eschenbach, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Bernard Haiting, Carl Saint-Clair, Carlos Miguel Prieto and others.

As a soloist, he played with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Argaauer Symphonie Orchester, Orchester d'Harmonie de Fribourg, Orchester d'Harmonie La Concordia, Ouro Preto Orchestra, Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra and others. In 2004, he was invited by Swiss International Radio to participate as a soloist in the phonographic project Brazilian Musicians in Switzerland, alongside names such as Antônio Meneses, Dagoberto Linhares and Ricardo Castro.

In 2001, he was 2nd place in the Jeunesses Musicales Competition at Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). In 2003, he won 1st place in the Yamaha Foundation for Europe contest and in 2004, he was a finalist in the Yamaha Trumpet Contest in Berlin, Germany.

From 2001 to 2005, he was professor of musical initiation and brass at the École de Musique des Cadets in La Concordia. From 2003 to 2007, he was professor of trumpet at the Conservatoire de Friborg (Switzerland).

His career as an instrumentalist and educator led him to tour several countries: Switzerland, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Holland, Germany, Austria, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru.