Originally from the Bergisches Land near Cologne, Eric Schneider studied piano and mathematics. At the age of twenty-two he passed his piano solo concert examination in Cologne with distinction. Following his first competition prizes and piano recital performances he resolved to pursue studies in the Lieder genre under Hartmut Höll. His career received highly influential input from such pianists as Paul Badura-Skoda and Alfred Brendel as well as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In the 1990s he studied orchestral conducting under Rolf Reuter in Berlin.
Eric Schneider’s performances as a Lieder accompanist have proved musical sensations all over the world, taking him to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York and Tokyo Opera City among other venues. He has been a regular guest at illustrious festivals including the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Salzburg Festival and the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival. Numerous highly praised recordings document his exceptional standing as a Lieder accompanist with such partners as Christiane Oelze, Hans Peter Blochwitz and Matthias Goerne. Discs released to date include Franz Schubert’s Winterreise, Apparition (a recording featuring works by Henry Purcell and George Crumb), both with Christine Schäfer, Wanderers Nachtlied, Schubert Lieder in a recording again with Matthias Goerne and Behind the Lines – a collection of songs of war with soprano Anna Prohaska.
Eric Schneider has now made a return to solo piano literature and recently gave impressive recitals at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, the Kissinger Sommer Festival and the Klavierfestival Ruhr. His most recent solo CD features works by Leoš Janáček, Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann. Currently he teaches the Lieder repertoire at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Ives: Piano Sonata No.2 (Concord Sonata) (1915)
Bertrand Chamayou, piano
Interval
"Behind the Lines": Songs by Beethoven, Eisler, Wolf, Pleshcheyev, Traill, Ives, Quilter, Cavendish, Schubert, Schumann and Kurt Weill
Anna Prohaska, soprano and Eric Schneider, piano
