Eric Mentzel
Biography
Eric Mentzel came to the UO School of Music from Germany, where he lived for nearly 15 years. He is a specialist in historically-informed performance and has enjoyed an international career as a concert soloist, working with such conductors as Andrew Parrott, Howard Arman, Paul van Nevel, and Jean Tubery. He has appeared at major festivals and premiere concert venues across Europe, including the Holland Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Brussels Palais de Beaux Arts, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham; concert tours have taken him as far as Japan and Australia. He is also known for his close collaboration with the most highly regarded ensembles in the early music field, such as Sequentia, the Ferrara Ensemble, the Boston Camerata, and the Huelgas Ensemble. He has appeared on nearly 60 CD recordings for Sony, Decca, BMG, Harmonia Mundi, Arcana, Opus 111, Raumklang, Naxos, and Capriccio, and his recordings have been awarded numerous awards, including the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Grammy), the Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, and the Choc de Musique (French recording awards).
In 1998, Mentzel founded Vox Resonat, an ensemble of soloists devoted to the performance of medieval and Renaissance vocal music that recorded two CDs for the Marc Aurel Edition label in Germany. He re-formed that ensemble in Oregon in 2013 and they became especially known for their Day of the Dead concerts in the Hope Abbey Mausoleum in the historic Eugene Masonic Cemetery. In 2015, Mentzel also became the Artistic Director of the Seattle Medieval Women’s Choir, succeeding their founding director.
In addition to his work in oratorio and early music, Mentzel has long been involved in the contemporary music scene, premiering new works by Alfred Schnittke, Henri Pousseur, Andrew Toovey, Johannes Fritsch, Volker Staub, and Garrett Fisher. At Hamburg's Opera Stabile, he sang the role of Ubu's wife in the German premiere of Toovey's chamber opera, UBU; he was also featured in the German premiere of Schnittke's Life With An Idiot in Wuppertal and Gelsenkirchen. He was tenor soloist with the Royal Walloon Chamber Orchestra in the world premiere of Le Sablier du Phénix by Henri Pousseur, and performed compositions by Hugues Dufourt and Jonathan Harvey at the Ars Musica Festival in Brussels. Mentzel appears on the world premiere recording of Volker Staub's Suarogate, commissioned by Saarland Radio, and was heard in the world premiere of Yokohama by Johannes Fritsch, which was broadcast live across Europe as part of Radio Hessen's Forum Neue Musik. For Projekt Südbrücke, a theater piece that used as its performing space a railroad bridge spanning the Rhine, he collaborated with Cologne performance artist Angie Hiesl. More recently he sang and recorded the lead role in the world premiere of Stargazer, and appeared in the world premiere of Three Marys, both operas by Seattle composer Garrett Fisher.
Eric Mentzel has taught widely in Europe and North America. He has served as guest professor at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Netherlands, and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was supported by a grant from the Deutsche-Amerikanische Austausch Dienst (DAAD). He has also taught at the Vancouver Early Music Programme, where he also served as program director; the San Francisco Early Music Society; Amherst Early Music; the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, and Ars Vocalis Mexico.
Education
- MFA 1983, Early Music Performance, Sarah Lawrence College
- BMus 1980, Music Education, Temple University College of Music
Publications
2016
O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen, Vajra Voices (session producer), Music and Arts.
2014
Figures of Harmony: Songs of the Codex Chantilly c. 1390, Ferrara Ensemble, Outhere Music.
Le Chant de Virgile, Huelgas Ensemble (re-release), Harmonia Mundi.
Sequentia Edition, Sequentia, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony Music.
2012
Jean Titelouze: Hymns, Vox Resonat, dir. Eric Mentzel, Markus Goecke, Organ, Marc Aurel Edition.
Music for Paradise: The Best of Hildegard von Bingen, Sequentia, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony Music.
2011
Hidebrandston: 15th-Century German Songbooks, Ferrara Ensemble (re-release), Arcana
2010
Corps femenin: L'avant-garde de Jean Duc de Berry, Ferrara Ensemble, Arcana
2007
Joculatores Dei: Minstrels of God, Vox Resonat directed by Eric Mentzel, Marc Aurel Edition.
Stargazer, an opera by Garrett Fisher, Fischer Ensemble, 16 Visions.
2004
Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper, Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
(Awarded the Diapason d’Or and the Dix de Repertoire.)
2002
Carmina Burana, Ony Wytars/Unicorn Ensemble, Naxos.
Northerne Wynde: Music of Walter Frye, Ferrara Ensemble, Marc Aurel Edition.
2001
Le Chant de Virgile, Huelgas Ensemble, Harmonia Mundi.
Annibale Padovano: Missa á 24 voix, Huelgas Ensemble, Harmonia Mundi.
Mercy ou Mort: Chansons et Motets d’Amour de Guillaume de Machaut, Ferrara Ensemble, Arcana.
Sancta Maria, Ensemble Super Librum, Emergo.
2000
Musica Sacra in Colonia, Musica Fiata, Glissando. (Awarded the Choc de Musique.)
Choralis Septentrionalis, Retrover, Opus 111.
Heinrich von Meissen: Frauenlob, Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1999
Volker Staub: Suarogate, Vocal soloists and instrumental ensemble, Wergo Records.
Giovanni Gabrieli: In Festo Trinitatis, La Fenice, Chamber Choir of Namur, Ricercar.
The Whyte Rose, Ferrara Ensemble, Arcana.
Alexander Agricola: A Secret Labyrinth, Huelgas Ensemble, Sony Classics.
1998
Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutem, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
La Pellegrina, Huelgas Ensemble, Sony Classics.
Hildegard von Bingen: Saints, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Tientos y Glosas en Iberia, Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Tempéraments.
Codex Reina: Ballades, Virelais et Rondeaux, Continens Paradisi, Symphonia.
En Doulz Chastel de Pavie: Songs of the Visconti Court (1400), Ferrara Ensemble, Harmonia Mundi France.
Music of the Monasteries, 1100-1200: Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1997
Piae Cantiones, Retrover, Naxos.
Aquitania, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
O Jerusalem: Hildegard von Bingen, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1996
Motetus: Music at the Time of Notre-Dame in Paris, Clemencic Consort, Stradivarius.
Fleurs de Vertu: Chansons Subtiles à la Fin du XIVe Siècle, Ferrara Ensemble, Arcana.
(Awarded the Diapason d’Or.)
Shining Light: Music from Aquitanian Monasteries, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Visions from the Book, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1995
Utopia Triumphans: The Great Polyphony of the Renaissance, Huelgas Ensemble, Sony Classics.
(Awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année.)
The Feast of San Rocco, Musica Fiata, Sony Classics.
Hildebrandston: Chansonniers Allemands du XVe Siècle, Ferrara Ensemble, Arcana.
(Awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année.)
1994
Jacobus Gallus: Opus Musicum and Missa Super Sancta Maria, Huelgas Ensemble, Sony Classics.
Heinrich Schütz: Musikalische Exequien, Schütz-Akadamie Berlin, Berlin Classics.
Music at the Court of the Counts von Bünau, Ensemble Alte Musik Dresden, Raumklang.
Chill to the Chant, Ensemble Sequentia, RCA.
1993
Bordesholmer Marienklage, Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Ancient Music for a Modern Age, Ensemble Sequentia, RCA.
Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension: Music of Monteverdi and his Venetian Contemporaries,
Schütz Akademie Berlin, Capriccio.
1992
Vox Iberica I: Sons of Thunder, Music for St. James the Apostle from the Codex Calixtinus,
Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
(Awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and Diapson d'Or.)
Vox Iberica II: Codex Las Huelgas, Music from the Royal Convent of Las Huelgas de Burgos,
Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
(Awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and Diapson d'Or.)
Vox Iberica III: El Sabio, Songs for King Alfonso X of Castile and Leon,
Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
(Awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and Diapson d'Or.)
Mysterium Passionis et Resurrectionis Festum Sanctissimae Paschae, Clemencic Consort, Nuova Era.
1991
Philippe de Vitry: Motets and Chansons, Ensemble Sequentia,
BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1990
Philippe le Chancelier: Conductus, Lai, Sequence, Rondellus, Notre-Dame School,
Ensemble Sequentia, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
1989
Music for Holy Week: Volume II, Schola Antiqua New York, Decca/L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Israelsbrünnlein: Sacred Madrigals by J.H. Schein, Rheinische Kantorei Köln, Capriccio.
1988
Renaissance Masters: Volume I, Pomerium, Classic Masters.
1987
Music for Holy Week: Volume I, Schola Antiqua New York, Decca/L’Oiseau-Lyre