Brahms’ Complete Songs
Early exuberance to mature melancholy
Piano
Ulrich Eisenlohr, Piano
After studies in Mannheim and Stuttgart, Ulrich Eisenlohr began an extensive concert career with numerous instrumental and vocal partners, appearing at venues and festivals such as the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus, Vienna, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, London, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Edinburgh Festival. Lieder partners have included Ingeborg Danz, Matthias Goerne, Dietrich Henschel, Wolfgang Holzmair, Christoph Prégardien, Sibylla Rubens, Roman Trekel, Rainer Trost, Michael Volle and Ruth Ziesak. Eisenlohr has appeared as a soloist and accompanist on over 50 recordings released by record labels such as Sony Classical, Naxos and harmonia mundi. Several of his recordings have been awarded major prizes. As a Lieder specialist the conception, artistic direction and recording of Schubert’s complete songs has been one of his major projects. Eisenlohr has conducted masterclasses in Lied and chamber music all over the world. He currently teaches Lieder at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
Soprano
Alina Wunderlin, Soprano
Alina Wunderlin is active both on the opera and concert stage, with repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to contemporary pieces. The singer works with companies such as the Vienna Volksoper, Oper Bonn, Oper Dortmund, Oper Düsseldorf, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro Real, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Philharmonie Berlin. Recent opera roles include Queen of the Night, Zerbinetta, Nightingale, Olympia, Frasquita and Blonde, working with directors such as Lydia Steier, Michael Hampe, Christiane Lutz, Ben Baur, Alexandra Liedtke and Peter Konwitschny. On the concert stage, she has performed with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Münchner Symphoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and conductors Philippe Herreweghe, Paavo Järvi, Gabriel Feltz, Dirk Kaftan and Christoph Gedschold, among others. Wunderlin is an alumna of the International Opera Studio Cologne. A special prize winner at Concours de Chant Marmande and a laureate at the Paula Salomon-Lindberg Competition, she has received scholarships from Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now, Richard-Wagner-Verband and the Academy of the International Händel Festival Karlsruhe.
Mezzo-soprano
Esther Valentin-Fieguth, Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Esther Valentin-Fieguth studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Mario Hoff and Ulrich Eisenlohr. She has been awarded numerous prizes at international competitions. Over the last three years, Valentin-Fieguth and pianist Anastasia Grishutina have been part of the young classical musician support programme SWR2 New Talent. The duo recorded their debut album Amors Spiel in 2019 and their second, Crime Scenes, in 2021 (both released on GWK Records). Also in 2019 Valentin-Fieguth was a soloist in the first recording of cantatas by Salieri with the Heidelberger Sinfoniker under the direction of Timo Jouko Herrmann. Valentin-Fieguth has been passionately dedicated to art song for many years and regularly gives recitals, performing in prestigious venues such as the Kölner Philharmonie and Philharmonie Essen. Since 2022 she has been a member of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Tenor
Christoph Prégardien, Tenor
Christoph Prégardien has secured a place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. As a singer of Lieder, he performs in concerts and recitals around the world, and he appears regularly in concert with renowned orchestras. Prégardien has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Boston Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony, and with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano and Christian Thielemann. In opera, his roles have included Prince Tamino, Almaviva, Fenton (Falstaff), Don Ottavio, Titus, Ulisse and Idomeneo. Prégardien also regularly appears as a conductor; he led the Collegium Vocale Gent in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on a major European tour in December 2019. He has recorded much of his repertoire and received awards including the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du disque lyrique, an Edison Award, an International Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or. His Schubert recording Poetisches Tagebuch, with Julius Drake, was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016. Christoph Prégardien is a professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne and gives masterclasses worldwide.
Tenor
Kieran Carrel, Tenor
Kieran Carrel studied in Cologne with Christoph Prégardien before continuing his education at London’s Royal Academy of Music, joining the Deutsche Oper Berlin from the 2022–23 season with roles including Tamino, Walther, Count Almaviva, Don Ottavio and Narraboth. Other highlights include Rinaldo in Haydn’s Armida at the Bregenzer Festspiele, and roles in Fidelio, Pagliacci and La Calisto at the Theater Bonn. In concert he has sung Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion with The English Concert and Kristian Bezuidenhout, and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra with Christoph Prégardien. In 2019 Carrel made his recital debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin with Thomas Hampson and Hartmut Höll, and was a finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera International Song Competition. Recent Wigmore Hall appearances include a Hugo Wolf Song Gala with Christoph Prégardien and James Baillieu and Haydn canzonettas with András Schiff. In 2020 Carrel was awarded Second Prize in the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin.
Baritone
Konstantin Ingenpaß, Baritone
For baritone Konstantin Ingenpaß, born in Osnabrück, music has been the focus of his life since early childhood and he has been musically active across multiple genres ever since. He began his professional singing training as a junior student with Gerhild Romberger at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and studied with renowned singers such as Teru Yoshihara, Sibylla Rubens, Bo Skovhus, Thomas Quasthoff, Mitsuko Shirai and Brigitte Fassbaender. His personal preference for lyricism as well as the artistic freedom and independence found in the interpretation of art song led to an intensive engagement with this genre during and after his studies. In October 2020, his work was rewarded when he recieved First Prize at the Hugo-Wolf-Akademie’s International Competition for the Art of the Lied. He has given performances of his extensive art song repertoire at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Heidelberger Frühling and the Gargan Music Festival in Kanazawa, Japan, among others.
