Eric Stoklossa is a world-famous tenor joining Texas Tech’s School of Music as an Associate Professor of Voice in August 2019.
Stoklossa was born in Dresden, Germany where at a young age he began performing all over the world with the renowned Kreuzchor boys' choir. He views musicality as the ability to develop one's own unique interpretation of a piece with respect to traditions.What was it like growing up in Germany and being a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor?
ES: It was an amazing experience! It's important to note that I grew up in former Eastern Germany.
The wall fell when I was almost 10 years old, and I can remember that day very vividly. One of the few great benefits of being a child in former Eastern Germany was that it was so safe. I didn't need lots of toys or television (which was fortunate since we didn't have them) because I could just play with my friends on the streets, in the fields and in the forest for hours a day without my parents worrying about my wellbeing.
At first, I attended a normal elementary school, and I enjoyed it very much, but one day my mom got a letter (telephones were rare in the former German Democratic Republic) from my principal teacher, calling her in for a meeting. As my mom found out, it was my music teacher asking for the meeting, telling her about my nice voice and my joy in singing. She suggested that I should audition for the Dresdner Kreuzchor. Of course, my mother knew about the existence of the boys' choir, but up until that time, no-one in my family had ever had a real musical education, especially not in singing. I auditioned as one of about 200 boys and was one of the 15 accepted. My life was literally turned upside down!
I went to boarding school, had rehearsals every day, had normal school from Monday through Saturday, a concert every Saturday with a new a cappella program every week, a church service every Sunday morning and then the rest of the day off to enjoy time with my family. That sounds like a lot, and it was, but my sheer love for singing was stronger than all the stress and all the homesickness, which for me was the hardest part of being at boarding school. One of the great benefits of the Kreuzchor was that we could travel. My first big tour brought me to many of the major cities in Western Germany when I was only 9 years old. It's hard to describe the feelings I felt back then, but it was like leaving the world I knew, and entering a world of freedom and wealth. I remember that I brought shower gel and coffee for my family back home, and an automatic photo camera for myself, wow! A few months later, the wall fell and now everybody could travel, families were reunited, everyone was ecstatic. I have travelled the world as an active member of the Kreuzchor and am still benefiting from the extraordinary musical education I received as a child and young man from this outstanding choir. Although it was strenuous and exhausting at times, the feeling of freedom and great satisfaction through singing still accompanies me today.
What vision did you have for your life then? Did it change as you began performing throughout the world?
ES: I loved singing! I still do, but that was not what I had planned for my future when I was younger. At first, I wanted to become a professional soccer player. Soccer, or football as we call it in Europe, was my main passion. We had two soccer fields right in the courtyard of our school. They were in terrible shape and the surface was stone gravel, but we didn't care. We played every day for hours. It was a much-needed valve to let out excess energy after school and rehearsals.
My second plan was to become a detective at the police department in Dresden. There was a great special school for this vocation in Dresden, and I thought that would be my future. When I told my voice teacher about my big plans, he wasn't excited at all, but he accepted them under one condition: I had to compete in the biggest music competition for young people in Germany, called "Jugend Musiziert" (Youth makes music). So, I did and won the first prize and a special prize from a music foundation. The next step was an informal audition for the Music Conservatory in Dresden - which ended with my immediate acceptance into the Conservatory.
After my obligatory year of civil service, caring for the elderly in a retirement home, I decided to give becoming a professional singer a chance. That was 20 years ago, and I am glad I took that path. Little did I know back then, that I would eventually become a voice Professor at a major University in the United States.
Do you find you are motivated more by success or failure?
ES: It might sound a little odd, but I don't need motivation when music is involved. In my eyes (and ears), music is the highest form of communication and language. The feeling of performing a piece with other talented musicians is indescribable and highly liberating. My mother told me a story about the first time I sang Bach's St. Matthew Passion in the Kreuzchor as a nine-year-old. After the concert, I sprang into her arms and told her "...and when we sang the big number Sind Blitze sind Donner in Wolken verschwunden I felt like I was flying!"
Who needs more motivation than that?
What excites you about teaching?
ES: My fellow students started coming to me for singing advice while I was still studying in Dresden, and ever since then I feel great joy in sharing my passion with other musicians. What excites me the most about teaching is lighting that spark of wanting to learn more in my students. I'm happiest when they leave a lesson knowing more than they did before, and even better, wanting to put in an effort to find that extra bit of energy and knowledge about singing or a specific piece or role they are working on. We singers have the privilege to do what we truly love as a profession, and I would like my students to embrace that.
Why Texas Tech?
ES: My lovely wife, Rebecca Babb-Nelsen, a professional singer as well, is a Texas Tech University graduate. I've heard so many amazing things about this University before I could even think about working here, that, the moment I learned about the open position, I didn't have to think twice about applying.
I am very impressed by the dedication of the faculty at the School of Music and the openness and hospitality of the Lubbock community. I think that Dean Noel Zahler and Director Kim Walker are doing outstanding work. I'm looking forward to working together with my fantastic fellow vocal faculty professors. My wife's family is also deeply connected to the University, three members are doctors at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center. My wonderful in-laws live in Lubbock as well.
This will certainly mean a lot of traveling, since Rebecca and I have active singing careers in Europe, but I am very excited about this new chapter of my life, and...I love a good challenge.
GUNS UP!