Soprano Erica Eloff has steadily built her career on the opera and concert platform to become a sought after soloist and recitalist. Praised in the media for her vocal authority and technical control, and a voice that is bright and well-produced across its range with great power at the top, she is a passionate and deeply musical performer.
Erica's wide-ranging repertoire includes all of the major oratorios and masses including several lesser known works. As an active chamber musician and passionate performer of Lieder and contemporary music, Erica has presented world premiers of works by American, Argentinian, English and South African composers, including works specifically written for her by composers James Wilding, Augusto Arias and Hannes Taljaard.
Ms Eloff is a laureate of several national and international scholarships and singing competitions in South Africa, France and the UK. As winner of the London Handel Singing Competition, she had the privilege of collaborating with Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Players on several occasions, including performing Handel's Messiah at St. George’s, Hanover Square. As a soloist with the Hanover band in the UK, she has performed regularly with them on tour. She has also collaborated with L’orfeo Barockorchester for concerts in both South Africa and Austria.
Erica’s operatic experience and repertoire covers music from the early Baroque through to the 21st Century. Guest engagements in Germany have included Rodrigo (Handel Rodrigo) at the Händel Festspiele Göttingen, Leonore (Beethoven Fidelio) at Theater Ulm, Tosca (Puccini Tosca) at the Schlossfestspiele Schwerin and Theater Lübeck, Queen of the Night (Mozart Die Zauberflöte) at Theater Lübeck and Theater Bielefeld, and Fiordiligi (Mozart Cosi fan tutte) at Theater Lübeck, as well as two visits to the Mozartfest Würzburg with Lautten Compagnei as Donna Anna (Mozart Don Giovanni). In the Uk she has worked with Classical Opera Company, Garsington Opera, Bury Court Opera, Cambridge Handel Opera, Opera North, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as well as several performances with Opera Settecento at the London Handel Festival.
As member of the ensemble of the Landestheater Linz in Austria since 2020, her roles have included Leonore (Beethoven Fidelio), La Contessa (Mozart Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì (Puccini La bohème), Marie/Marietta (Korngold Die tote Stadt), Donna Leonora (Verdi La forza del destino) and Eva (Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). For the 2023-24 season, her roles include Agathe (Weber Der Freischütz), Nedda (Leoncavallo Pagliacci) and Rachel (Halévy La Juive). In her capacity as ensemble member she has joined the Bruckner Orchester as soloist on several occasions, most notably for the Klassikstars am Traunsee concert in 2022 with Piotr Beczala, and again in 2023 with Klaus Florian Vogt and Adrian Eröd.
Erica was born and raised in South Africa where she received her first music lessons from her mother in piano and violin. She later completed her music degree and post-graduate studies at the North West University Potchefsttroom, studying singing with Werner Nel. She has lived in France and the UK, working as freelance singer and voice teacher, and currently resides in Linz, Austria. When not performing vocal pyrotechnics, high notes and long lines, teaching from her home studio or doing voice building with the Childrens Choir of the Landestheater Linz, Erica enjoys reading, making music with her children, eating anything vegan put in front of her and being a tourist in her hometown.