BARITON

EISHI KAWAMURA

Wurde als Sohn eines Musikprofessor in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan geboren, studierte an der Technischen Hochschule in Tokio und begann seine kuenstlerische Ausbildung bei Professor Rie Schoji und bei Professor Ria von Hessert in Tokio. 1957 erhielt er ein oesterreichisches Austauschstipendium an die Akademie fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien und studierte bei Professor Adolf Vogel (Gesang), bei Professor Josef Witt (Oper), bei Professor Ferdinamd Grossmann und Dr. Erik Werbe (Lied und Oratorium). Im Mai 1959 erhielt er beim Internationalen Haydn-Schubert-Wettbewerb in Wien den ersten Preis. Es folgeten Konzerttourneen durch ganz Europa, Australien und U.S.A. Seit 1965 ist er Professor fuer Gesang und Lied Interpretation an der Musashino Musikhochschule in Tokio. Seit 1996 ist er Ruhestand.

Eishi Kawamura gilt heute noch als Japans hervorragendster Lied und Oratoriensaenger und ist Gruender und Vorsitzender der Hugo Wolf-Gesellschaft in Japan und Leiter des Institut fuer deutsches Lied in Tokio.

Er hat im Jahre 1987 Meisterklass beim 1. International Congress of voice teachers in Strasbourg und 12.Jahreskongress der Bundesverband Deutscher Gesangspaedagogen 2000 in Nuernberg einen Vortrag und Workshop gehalten.

Als Herausgeber hat er Beethoven - Lieder, Mozart - Lieder und Ausgewaehlte Lieder von Hugo Wolf beschaetigt.

Liederabend
Liederabend am Am Flügel 10. 07. 2002
einiger Teil der Zugabe 		Rentaro Taki:Kojoh no Tuki (An den Mond auf der Burgruine)/
Hugo Wolf:Gebet /Franz Schubert:An die Musik		 Michio Kobayashi
15.10.2005 Franz Schubert=Friedrich von Schiller:Gruppe aus dem Tartarus
Hugo Wolf=Eduard Mörike:Abschied		 Michio Kobayashi
24.9.2006 Robert Schumann=Heinrich Heine::Du bist wie eine Blume
:Im wunderschönen Monat Mai		 Michio Kobayashi



LP/CD
Am Flügel Teil von CD zu hören
LPRobert Schumann=Heinrich Heine (Dichhterliebe et) Michio Kobayashi
Victor
LP Winterreise
Franz Schubert
Sechs Lieder von Gellert
L v Beethoven		 Michio Kobayashi
Victor
LP Dichterliebe
Robert Schumann		 Erik Werba
Deutsche Grammophon
CD Letzte Lieber der Meister
26.6 1976		 Erik Werba
LMCD-1107		 Brahms Denn es geht dem Menshen wie dem Vieh
RavelChanson romantique
CD Lieder von Schubert Jeoffrey Parsons
LMCD-1108		 An die Musik
CD Winterreise
Franz Schubert		 Seiya Hirashima
ALCD-9013

Unforgettable "Winterreise" (The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, October 20. 1971) London
An unforgettable performance at Wigmore Hall last night of Schubert's "Winterreise" placed the Japanese baritone Eishi Kawamura among the great lieder singers of the day.
On first hearing it a few years ago, his audience here was struck by the rare expressive- ness of his finely controlled voice. On his return visit a heightened sense of drama and eloquence has been added, and the soirit of these wonderful songs came across with utter sincerity.
A trur appreciation of Viennese music has been granted to this intensely cultured Oriental, who has no need of the distracting gestures resorted to by some singers. Where the lover's anguish breaks through there was plenty of power in a voice of great smoothness and exemplary line.
The beautiful playing of Geoffrey Parsons at the piano formed part of a deeply musical occasion. There are few players who could bring into the organgrinder's music such a feeling of utter desolation. D.A.W.M.

Eishi Kawamura sang im Brahms-Saal "Winterreise"
(Kurier ,Wien Donnerstag, 4. November 1971)
Ein echter Liedsanger
Wenn ein Japaner, zehn Jahre nach seinem Studium an der Wiener Musikakademie, zuruck-kehrt und an der Statte seiner Lehr- und Wanderjahre Schuberts "Winterreise" singt, dann darf man auf das Ergebnis gespannt sein. Eishi Kawamura - von ihm ist hier die Rede - konnte sich allerdings des regen Publikumsinteresses nicht erfreuen. So ist das halt in Wien: Es ziehen nur noch die Stars.
Dabei hat Kawamura weit mehr zu bieten, als man das ( vor allem in jungster Zeit !) hier in Liederabenden grwohnt ist. Sein rauhes, mannliches Timbre, seine sichere und vollig naturliche Technik, tiefer Ernst und packende Gestaltungskraft im Lyrischen wie im Dramatischen liesen Schuberts dusteren Meisterzyklus in allen Nuancen, Stimmungen und tragischen Schattierungen erstehen. Vorbildlich auch Diktion, musikalische Durchdringung und geistige Erfassung von Text und Musik. Ein echter Liedsanger, mehr noch - ein wirklicher Kunstler.
Erik Werba, Lehrer, Mentor und nunmehr Begleiter Kawamuras, spielte stimmungsvoll, nur manchmal zu laut. A.S.
CYCLE BY SCHUBERT, SUNG BY KAWAMURA
(The New York Times, Friday, November 12. 1971)
Schubert's "Die Winterreise", his great cycle of 24 songs, is so demanding in so many ways that it is seldom sung in recitals, here, but a Japanese baritone, Eishi Kawamura, chose it for his American debut at Carnegie Recital Hall Wednesday night and interpreted it beautifully.
Mr. Kawamura is no beginner. He has sung a lot in Europe, as well as in his own country, where he lives in Tokyo, and his international recognition dates from his winning of the 1959 Haynd-Schubert Competition in Vienna, where he studied.
He has an ample and attractive voice, and on this occasion he sang very well, running into only one rough moment when singing at a peak of intensity in his upper register.
His German diction was clear, and it was obvious that he knew exactly what he was singing at every moment. His range of expression seemed to encompass every mood and emotion written into the songs, and he projected everything with uncommon directness. If he is as good in other repertory as ion this cycle, he is certainly a singer of special merit.
Ernst Wolff was Mr. Kawamura's assisting pianist. Allen Hughes

Music by KEN HEALEY (The Canberra Times, Tuesday, April 13. 1976)

A performance to remember
SCHUBERT'S song cycle "Die Winterreise" (the Winter Journey) was very much at home in the chilly Canberra Theatre last night.
Happy to relate aptness was by no means confined o the temperature, as Japanese baritone Eishi Kawamura, singing in the ABC subscription series, established and maintained a firm rapport with the poetry, and through it with the inspired music.
To approach these 24 songs by means of Wilhelm Muller's less-than-distinguished verse is unusual in singers reared in the European tradition. They tend to use the words as a mere vehicle for the most taxing, and perhaps the most rewarding song cycle in the repertoire. Not so for this Japanese master.
Mr. Kawamura sang the cycle without an Interval, and, of course, in German. It was a performance to remember, and certainly the best I have heard in the concert hall. As all memorable readings do, this one contributed something new to my store of Impressions of the work.
The revelation for me last night was to hear a singer apptorch sach song with an ear and a voice for every nuance. Exploring the emotional limits of the porty, without ever degenerating to emotionalism, Mr. Kawamura changed vocal colour, tone and volume whenever the poet altered his inflection.
Inevitably, the final third of the cycle was dominated by Schubert; the music took over from the portry, and but for a too-studied 'Der Leiermann', the final 20 minutes was riveting.
For most of the evening before 'Der sturmische Morgen' fused singer and accompanist in cold despair, Mack Jost had contented himself with sensitive understatment at the piano, allowing the music to make a cumulative effect. With the singer choosing to expose the poetry, and thereby exhibit its limitations, we were able at once to confirm an accepted view of Muller while thoroughly enjoying the genius of Schubert.