Valerie Eickhoff's Debut Album Released
Winner of the 2022 Sudwestrundfunk Junge Opernstars competition, Mezzo Soprano Valerie Eickhoff’s debut album, Hanns Eisler’s Hollywood Songbook with pianist Eric Schneider is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
Released on the Ars Produktion Label, the Hollywood Songbook is a collection of art songs composed during the Hanns Eisler’s time in the United States after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Originally written for voice and piano, these songs reflect Eisler's experiences in Hollywood, blending his classical training with influences from American popular music. The Hollywood Songbook showcases Eisler's unique musical style, incorporating poignant lyrics that touch on themes of exile, nostalgia, and political disillusionment. As a significant figure in 20th-century music, Eisler's songbook remains an important contribution to the genre of art song.
“Über den Selbstmord” from the album Hollywood Songbook
Ostracized and persecuted because of his origins and his political convictions, limited in his actual significance ultimately by the political circumstances of divided Germany, Hanns Eisler is initially remembered primarily as the composer of the music for the national anthem of the former German Democratic Republic. The true significance of his multifaceted oeuvre has only been recognized and duly appreciated in more recent times. He is now considered one of the most influential German composers of the 20th century. In contrast to his teacher Arnold Schoenberg, he understood music above all as a tool for the political and public development of influence.
mezzo soprano Valerie Eickhoff
About Valerie Eickhoff
Valerie Eickhoff’s honors and awards include appearing as a semifinalist at the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup and in the 2019 Neue Stimmen Competition, as well as receiving scholarships from the Wagner Association Düsseldorf, Yehudi Menuhin Foundation “Live Music Now”, Horst and Gretl Will Foundation, and the Werner Richard Dr Carl Dörken Foundation. She holds degrees from Robert Schumann University where she graduated with honors and participated in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernarda Fink, Eric Schneider, Hans Eijsackers and Luca Quintavalle. She currently resides in Düsseldorf, Germany.
pianist Erick Schneider
About Eric Schneider
Native to the German region of Bergisches Land, Eric Schneider studied piano and mathematics in Cologne. After winning his first competition prizes and appearing as a soloist, he discovered his enthusiasm for lied and chamber music. He subsequently continued his education by studying lied accompaniment with Hartmut Höll. He received groundbreaking instruction from Paul Badura-Skoda, Alfred Brendel and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He owes special thanks to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for her style-forming lessons. In the 1990s he completed a course in orchestral conducting with Rolf Reuter in Berlin, where he lives and teaches lied at the Universität der Künste.