The Performers

Jan Kristof Schliep

Jan Kristof Schliep preparing for the show
Photo: Elke Vogelsang

Tenor Jan Kristof Schliep grew up in Bremerhaven and Hannover, Germany. At the age of 12, he gained his first stage experience at the Landesbühne Hannover and has performed for ten years at the Lower Saxony State Opera as a juggler and artist.

Following his studies of special education in 1999, he started his studies to become an opera singer at the Hanover University of Music and Drama, graduating in 2006 with a diploma.

Between 2007 and 2018, he was an ensemble member at the TfN · Theater für Niedersachsen (Theater for Lower Saxony) based in Hildesheim, Germany. At the TfN, he performed a wide variety of roles, including Monostatos in "The Magic Flute", Witch in "Hansel and Gretel", Wenzel in "The Bartered Bride". In 2013, he was recipient of the „Künstlerpreis“, an award for exceptional artistic achievements, from the Friends of the Theatre. Starting 2018, he works as a self-employed artist and sings concerts and operas in Germany and the Netherlands.

Already during his singing studies, he appeared as an opera soloist the the Theater Lübeck and the Stadttheater Hildesheim. In addition to regular performances in church concerts, he compiled a large repertoire of German songs from the 1920s to 1940s. These songs constitute the basis of his full-evening vaudeville show, with regular performances since 2006.

His partner at the piano is the Dutch pianist Dr. Eelco Herder.

Eelco Herder

Eelco Herder preparing for the show
Photo: Elke VogelsangEelco Herder was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. After having completed his studies in Computer Science at the University of Twente (Enschede, the Netherlands), he received his PhD degree at the same university in the field of Human-Computer iIteraction. Until the summer of 2017, he worked as a senior researcher at the L3S Research Center in Hannover, Germany and became an assistant professor at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands afterwards. Starting summer 2022 he is working as Associate Professor at the University of Utrecht.

He received his first piano lessons at the age of seven. He has been performing for an audience since the age of sixteen. He started as a pianist in the Grand Café “De Koperen Tuin” and played in the lounge of the theater “De Harmonie” for several years, both in located in his hometown Leeuwarden. During his studies in Enschede, the Netherlands, he received piano lessons from Michail Markov. Eelco was co-founder of the student piano club “Utopiano”.

Apart from the classical piano repertoire, he specialized in traditional ragtimes. In addition to solo performances, he accomponied choirs, played in piano duos and played chamber music with a cellist.

Eelco Herder and Jan Kristof Schliep are partners in life and on stage since July 2006 and currently live in the Netherlands.