Eike Wilm Schulte
Eike Wilm Schulte’s season 2010/11 begins at the Los Angeles Opera, where he is singing Heerrufer in “Lohengrin”. He will then return to the Bavarian State Opera Munich as Musiklehrer in “Ariadne auf Naxos”. At Deutsche Oper Berlin he will appear as Kurwenal in a new production of “Tristan und Isolde”. Concert performances of “Parsifal” (Klingsor) and “Das Rheingold” (Alberich) will take him to Berlin’s Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique Montréal.
Of special significance for Eike Wilm Schulte is the recently awarded title of Kammersänger, which will be bestowed upon him in autumn 2010 by the Wiesbaden State Theatre.
Since 1991 he appeared regularly at the MET, singing the German dramatic- and character baritone repertoire, as well as at the Vienna State Opera, at Covent Garden, La Scala di Milano, in Munich and Berlin, and in many other opera houses worldwide. He has sung in 12 consecutive Bayreuth Festivals and appeared in Salzburg's summer and Easter festivals. His many other festival appearances range from the Wagner Festival in Osaka to the Bregenz and Munich Opera Festivals.
He has worked with stage directors such as Götz Friedrich, Harry Kupfer, Thomas Langhoff, August Everding, Dieter Dorn and Peter Stein and famous conductors, too numerous to list.
As a concert singer he is also very much in demand. The following are examples of his diverse concert engagements: The Europe Concert with Beethoven's IX. Symphony 2000 at Berlin‘s Philharmonic Hall; the 50th Sony-anniversary concert in Tokyo with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado; the Millennium Concert 2000 in Rome under Giuseppe Sinopoli, broadcast by RAI; Mahler’s VIII. Symphony in Tanglewood/USA under James Levine for an enthusiastic audience of 16.000; and an open-air concert in Paris with the French National and Boston Symphony orchestras under Seiji Ozawa for an audience of 300.000.
This international career has been preceded by ensemble contracts at the Hessische Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where since 1993 he is an honorary member, and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. In 2008 he was awarded the Goethe Medal by the State of Hessen's ministry of culture, the State's most prestigious cultural award.
Eike Wilm Schulte’s discography includes the complete recordings of “Lohengrin", "Die Schweigsame Frau" and "Daphne" (DECCA 2005), Mahler's VIII. Symphony (EMI 1992), Beethoven’s IX. Symphony and Bruckner‘s 1st Mass (Deutsche Grammophon 2001).
He began his vocal training at the age of 19 with Josef Metternich at the University of Music in Cologne and graduated in only four years. His first engagement was at the opera studio of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, his first role being Sid in “Albert Herring”.
