BiographyEric Dalheim, a University of Illinois Professor of Accompanying from 1961 - 2005, earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree in voice and a Bachelor or Music in piano from Baldwin-Wallace College (1954-55), a Master or Music degree in piano and ensemble from the University or Illinois (1961 ), and pursued additional studies with an esteemed array of musicians which included George Reeves, Paul Ulanowsky, Gerald Moore, Paul Hamburger and Dalton Baldwin. Professor Dalheim has concertized with artists of renown such as Ara Berberian, Blanche Thebom, Eleanor Steber, William Warfield, Jerry Hadley, Ronald Hedlund, Jerold Siena, Szymon Goldberg, Joel Krosnick, Michel Debost, and Roger Bobo.
He has collaborated in master classes with composer Ned Rorem, with legendary singers Pierre Bernac, Gerard Souzay, Jan Peerce, and Phyllis Curtin, and served as the official accompanist/clinician for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NA TS). In 1998 he accompanied soprano Barbara Dalheim and baritone Ronald Hedlund in a concert at the NATS National Convention in Toronto, featuring song cycles that were winners of the International Art Song Competition.
Professor Dalheim is a frequent collaborator with fellow university faculty members for vocal recitals, instrumental solo recitals and chamber music concerts, as well as partnering with advanced student performers in required degree recitals. In addition to his many performances each year at the University of Illinois and throughout North America, he has taught Vocal Literature, Principles of Accompanying and Advanced Accompanying, as well as coaching singers at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Professor Dalheim is a co-editor and consultant for the Virtuoso Obbligato Aria Collection found at www.cellomusicplus.com. In 1974, he was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory or Music.
An avid collector or vinyl recordings and reader or mystery novels, he is also a pocket billiards enthusiast -counting it no disgrace that he once lost an exhibition match to the legendary billiards master, Willie Mosconi. Married to soprano Barbara Dalheim, he regularly collaborates on stage with his offstage partner in a wide-ranging repertory that encompasses everything from art song and "parlour" music to the contemporary and avant-garde music for which his soprano/wife is widely recognized as an expert interpreter.
To quote tenor Jerry Hadley, Eric Dalheim was one of his "most quintessential and passionate teachers" during Hadley's tenure as a student at the University of Illinois from 1974-77. He collaborated with Mr. Hadley and cellist Barbara Hedlund in the Emmy award-winning PBS Performance Documentary, THE SONG AND THE SLOGAN. Again, quoting Mr. Hadley, "It is a privilege and an honor and an unspeakable joy to sing with Eric Dalheim. Without his generous and passionate example, not to mention his unswerving commitment and devotion to everyone who has the good fortune to travel in his orbit, people like me would be so very much the poorer. He possesses that rare combination of genius and humility which are the hallmarks of all truly great artists. He is a treasure."