Eilika Wünsch Soprano
EILIKA WÜNSCH | Soprano
Soprano Eilika Wünsch, born in East Frisia, discovered classical music at an early age through the piano. She began her professional vocal training at the age of 16 in San Diego (USA), continuing her studies primarily with Prof. H. Kobayashi and KS Prof. R. Schubert, and through masterclasses with Prof. D. Fischer-Dieskau, R. Trekel, Prof. U. Heilmann, and Prof. K. Widmer.
Her close collaboration with pianist and song accompanist Jörg Demus in 2010/2011 continues to influence her interpretation of art song. Alongside her musical education, she also studied philosophy in Munich. In addition to her performances across the German-speaking world, she has built a strong reputation in Japan, with over 300 song recitals and opera performances in the country’s major concert halls. A festival named in her honor took place in Fukushima in 2009/2010 but could not continue due to the 2011 disaster. One of her notable roles there was Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
In 2010, she won the "Premium Audition" vocal competition in Switzerland. Numerous CD recordings followed between 2011 and 2016, featuring works by Schubert, Szymanowski, Richard Strauss, Mozart’s concert arias, orchestral songs, and opera arias. Her repertoire spans from light to dramatic coloratura and includes leading lyrical roles such as Konstanze, Donna Anna, Violetta, Gilda, and the Queen of the Night. She is also passionately devoted to the art song, valuing the intimate connection between voice, instrument, poetry, and music.
Together with conductor and pianist Bernhard Wünsch, she continuously develops new programs that captivate audiences with their focus on song repertoire. Her recording of Handel’s rarely performed Nine German Arias was released in autumn 2022 on the renowned label Hänssler Classic. Their second album, Romantic Songs, featuring romantic lieder arranged for low strings, soprano, and piano, followed in early 2024.
BERNHARD WÜNSCH | Conductor and Pianist
Bernhard Wünsch studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and went on to conduct at theatres in Bielefeld, Wiesbaden, Duisburg, Stuttgart, and Cologne. Since 1995, he has worked internationally as a conductor and pianist, appearing at major festivals in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, Europe, and Israel. From 2012 to 2015, he was a regular guest conductor of the Belarusian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Minsk.
As a pianist, he is a dedicated chamber musician and song accompanist, frequently performing with soprano Eilika Wünsch in recitals throughout Germany and Japan. Together, the duo has released nine CDs. A special focus of his artistic work lies in “sound” — he has orchestrated art songs by Karol Szymanowski for soprano and orchestra, one of which has been released on CD.
He is also the artistic director of “Musikhaus am Bielstein” and co-responsible for studio recordings and chamber music series on the rsa classics label. His arrangements often explore new connections between vocal and chamber music. Their most recent album, Romantic Songs | Schumann | Schubert | Brahms, featuring soprano, cello, and piano, was released in 2024 by Hänssler Classic.
In autumn 2022, he also appeared as pianist on the CD Nine German Arias (G.F. Handel), released by the same label. On his approach to arrangement, Bernhard Wünsch comments: “As a 'conductor at the piano,' I often perceive hidden melodic lines within the piano part of art songs and chamber music that gain expressive depth when voiced by a solo instrument. Inspired by Schubert’s late songs and the works of composers like Brahms, where voice and piano are enriched by another melodic instrument — in our case violin, cello, or double bass — we began reimagining our song recital repertoire in new and compelling ways.”
From the Press
"The soprano Eilika Wünsch masterfully performed this vocal part, filled with technical challenges and virtuosic coloratura, which resembles more an opera than a sacred work. (…) In the opera The Magic Flute, Mozart successfully brings out the complexity of the characters through music. In the Queen of the Night’s entrance aria O zitt’re nicht, sung by Eilika Wünsch, one can truly feel pain and sorrow in the middle section. – With esprit and elegance, Eilika Wünsch interpreted her vocal parts. Bernhard Wünsch accompanied the works masterfully on the piano. The audience honored the performances with abundant applause."
Josef Riedmann (MP)
Josef Riedmann (MP)
“A powerful hour of Romanticism” – Eilika Wünsch, her husband Bernhard on piano, and double bassist Stefan Adelmann enchanted the audience in the Karlstadt town hall with a chamber concert from the Romantic era. Pianist and soprano Bernhard and Eilika Wünsch have already made a name for themselves in Karlstadt with their varied programs. Their recipe for success lies both in the quality of their performances and in the selection of their artistic guests. (…) All of these songs, including Auf dem Strom by Franz Schubert, were presented by soprano Eilika Wünsch with great feeling and expressive power, and a remarkable vocal range. She was especially convincing in the high and soft passages."
Günther Roth (MP)
Günther Roth (MP)
“An ‘A’ delights the audience” – A single breath of longing filled the hall as the soprano (...) captivated the audience for over five minutes with nothing but the sung “A” (Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise), performed in various tonal colors with piano and double bass accompaniment."
Lothar Röss (HNA)
Lothar Röss (HNA)
“With soprano Eilika Wünsch, one can truly dream” – When her voice soars into jubilant heights, buoyantly supported by Bernhard Wünsch on piano and Peter Rosenberg on violin. Even Handel’s dedication to the “flaming rose” unfolds, in the spirit of the Baroque poet of nature, its “enchanting splendor” like a musical hymn honoring nature and its Creator. (…) After this existential Baroque drama, the tone becomes longingly buoyant once more – beginning with a song by Johannes Brahms about Gestillte Sehnsucht (Satisfied Longing), followed by Franz Liszt’s dreamy fantasy O Lieb, set to a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath and interwoven with the melody of his famous Liebestraum. Embedded in these romantic sighs of heart and longing, the soprano of Eilika Wünsch enchants even without words – in Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, where the notes breathe and flow like a light cloud of sound, touching the hearts of the audience and deeply moving them."
Tina Fibiger (Kulturbüro)
Tina Fibiger (Kulturbüro)
“The applause was thunderous” – Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise op. 34 No. 14, a song that relies solely on the power of the voice, seemed tailor-made for Eilika Wünsch. With her solo, the soprano delivered the first emotional and vocal highlight of the evening. The expressive performance received prolonged applause. (…) At the end, once again Mozart – this time the great Wolfgang Amadeus. With Exsultate…, the audience once again witnessed the soprano’s virtuosity and the skill and harmony of the chamber orchestra."
Dirk Fochler (Helmstedter Nachrichten)
Dirk Fochler (Helmstedter Nachrichten)
“Already the opening (...)” – which Eilika Wünsch shaped with her expressively cultivated soprano in an inviting and promising manner full of captivating dynamics, brought joy for what was to come. The vocal gem Maria durch ein Dornwald ging, set to mood-building piano and tenderly singing cello, was lovingly internalized even in the highest soprano registers and rose dynamically with the phrase “then the thorns bore roses,” prompting spontaneous, appreciative applause. (…) Works by Mozart, Bach, Handel, Saint-Saëns, or Hugo Wolf – such as the soprano aria from the Christmas Oratorio or the Mozart motet Exsultate, jubilate – thrilled in the congenial shaping of the instrumentalists, who always gave the soprano ample space to let her slender, soaring coloratura soprano – cleanly intonated up to the high B, and richly expressive in timbre – unfold."
J. Dürich (Goslarsche Zeitung)
J. Dürich (Goslarsche Zeitung)
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