Eric Dalheim

Professor Emeritus of Accompanying

B.M., Baldwin-Wallace College (voice and piano); M.M. (piano and ensemble), University of Illinois.

Eric Dalheim joined the faculty in 1961. Professor Dalheim, who studied with George Reeves, Paul Ulanowsky, Gerald Moore, Paul Hamburger, and Dalton Baldwin, has performed with such renowned singers as Ara Berberian, Blanche Thebom, and William Warfield and instrumentalists such as Szymon Goldberg, Joel Krosnick, Michel Debost, and Roger Bobo. He has collaborated in master classes with Ned Rorem, Pierre Bernac, Gerard Souzay, and Phyllis Curtin, and has served as official accompanist/clinician for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). A frequent collaborator with faculty in vocal, instrumental, and chamber music concerts, Professor Dalheim also accompanies advanced student performers in required degree recitals.

Professor Dalheim has given concerts in Yorkshire, England and Paris, France with Debra Richtmeyer (saxophone), and with the late tenor Jerry Hadley in Florida. He also performed with Nancy Ambrose King (oboe) in her first-prize-winning performance in the Third International Oboe Competition in New York City. Professor Dalheim was featured in the 2002 PBS-TV performance documentary, “The Song and the Slogan.” During his distinguished teaching career at UIUC, he taught vocal literature, principles of accompanying, and advanced accompanying, and he coached singers at both the graduate and undergraduate level. He is also a co-editor and consultant for the Virtuoso Obbligato Aria collection. In 1974 Professor Dalheim was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. An avid collector of vinyl recordings and reader of mystery novels, he is also a pocket billiards enthusiast — counting it no disgrace that he once lost an exhibition match to the legendary master, Willie Mosconi. Professor Dalheim is married to soprano Barbara Dalheim, and they have often partnered in a wide-ranging repertory from “parlor” music to the contemporary and avant-garde.

Teaching Philosophy
It is the ever-renewing presence of our students that I find continually inspiring and challenging. As a teacher, I attain success working from and through the keyboard, trying to convey the essence of my background, experience and understanding to the students. Authoritarian dogma and the “show and tell” method are anathema to me. Together, our work in progress is more a gentle voyage of positive discovery. My attitude as mentor toward my students is to view and accept each as an individual talent, to challenge and stimulate their perceptions of music as an expressive, communicative art. It is my belief that young musicians of today should be versatile, creative artists, contributing to society, forging connections between people, and demonstrating concern for the human condition.