Univ.-Prof. Ralf Heiber
Ralf Heiber was born in Berlin to a family of diplomats and grew up in Toronto, Caracas, Brasilia and Barcelona.
His first teacher in Caracas was Monique Duphil (Jean Doyen and Marguerite Long School). He later completed his piano studies with Roland Keller at the music academies in Lübeck and Vienna with honours.
His encounters with Erik Werba and Dalton Baldwin led to in-depth studies in lied accompaniment with Roman Ortner and Norman Shetler at the Vienna University of Music.
Following successes at important international piano and lied competitions (including the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Hamburg and the International Competition "Das Schubert Lied" in Vienna), Ralf Heiber has given concerts worldwide as a soloist, piano duo partner of Norman Shetler and lied accompanist for renowned singers (including Barbara Hölzl and Georg Nigl). He has performed in renowned concert halls, e.g. in Vienna (Konzerthaus, Musikverein), Seoul, Tokyo and London (Wigmore Hall) and at various festivals (including Wien Modern) and has been involved in the organisation of concert cycles (including Hugo Wolf, Schubert, Liszt, contemporary song and the New Viennese School) in Europe and Asia. He has also made numerous CD, radio and television recordings, which have been enthusiastically received by critics.
Ralf Heiber was head of the keyboard department at the Joseph Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt until 2017, where he still teaches a piano class today. His students have won prizes and celebrated successes at international competitions (First Prize/Grand prix de la Ville de Paris at the Concours Olivier-Messiaen, Concours international de piano Orléans, Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth Brussels, Rome, Jaén, Hong Kong, Gradus ad Parnassum, Dr Josef Dichler Piano Competition, etc.)
He is active worldwide as a juror and regularly gives song and piano masterclasses in Europe and at leading universities in Japan, Korea and China.
Dr. Eva Batori
She graduated from the Budapest Conservatory and completed her studies at the Vienna State Opera Studio. In her international debut she made her debut in a Mozart opera. During this period, the German television station MDR recorded the complete operas of Da Ponte. She continues her career in Cologne, where she expands her repertoire to include Italian repertoire from Madama Butterfly to Aida. At the same time, she made her American debut in Tosca. She also sang with great success at New York's Averie Fisher Hall. She sings regularly in Japan and China. While abroad, he worked with artists such as A. Krauss, P. Konwits and C. Abbado. After returning home, he worked with Éva Marton, Attilla Vidnyánszky and Zoltán Kocsis. He is currently known for R. Strauss's Goneril as well as for costume operas such as Sostakovits's Lady or Reimann's Goneril.
Her vocal teaching work is widely recognised. She has given numerous masterclasses at home and abroad. She was a vocal coach at the University of Theatre and Cinematographic Arts in Budapest for ten years, at the University of Szeged (BBMK) for four years, and an associate professor in Vienna for five years. Currently, she is the head of the department at the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen and a lecturer at the Department of Voice, Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Semmelweis.