The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg offers artistic and pedagogical training in a broad spectrum of musical fields and the possibility of earning a Ph.D. in musicology or music education at one of Germany's most renowned schools of music.
The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg has attracted a multitude of enthusiastic educators, scholars, and prominent musicians in the past, like Aurèle Nicolet, Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Wolfgang Fortner, Carl Seemann, Vitaly Margulis, Ulrich Koch, Wilfried Gruhn, Lars Ulrich Abraham, Erich Doflein, Heinz Holliger, and Klaus Huber.
These figures helped make the institution into what it is today. They had a decisive formative impact on generations of students, including the violinist Daishin Kashimoto (1st Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic), the violist Tabea Zimmermann, the conductor and composer Hans Zender, the cellists Jean-Guilhem Queyras and Lukas Fels (Arditti Quartet), the pianist Bernd Glemser, the singer Rachel Harnisch, the video and performance artist Nam Jun Paik, and the composer Wolfgang Rihm.
Founded in 1946, the school has its roots in the baroque Wentzinger House on the Cathedral Square in the historic old town's heart. Today, classes are held in a modern building bathed in natural light and surrounding a spacious foyer on a landscaped campus on Freiburg's east side. Our students experience Freiburg as a town with a tremendous civic spirit that boasts an unusually dynamic music scene relative to its size and is blessed with a mild climate and a rich culinary tradition.
With a choice of 35 major fields, the school offers a musical education tailored to its students' individual needs and skills. The educational offerings are organized into eight-degree programs, ranging from bachelor of music to doctorate.
The Freiburg Academy for Young Musicians (FAB) offers a first-rate preparatory course for young musical talents aged 12 or older. Credits from the course are taken into account in the entrance examination and a later study at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.
The Bachelor of Music is an eight-semester degree program for beginning students. It may be earned in any of 28 instrumental, vocal, or other significant fields, and students can choose between an artistic or pedagogical emphasis.
Graduates of a bachelor's program have the opportunity to continue studying toward the Master of Music in an additional four semesters. The master may be earned as a consecutive course of study following an accredited bachelor degree in the same major field or as a non-consecutive course in the fields of elementary-level music education, ensemble singing, film music, ear training, historical performance practice, art song, music and movement/rhythmic training, or music theory.
Highly talented graduates of a master of music program can take a two- or four-semester postgraduate degree program in Concert Exam/Master Class.
Education as a church musician begins with the Bachelor of Music/Church Music, an eight-semester course of study for beginning students. An additional four-semester postgraduate course of study leads to the Master of Music/Church Music.
The degree program School Music prepares beginning students and students transferring from other institutions for a career as a music teacher in secondary schools. The course of study typically takes nine semesters to complete and ends with a state examination.
The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg confers the degree Doctor of Philosophy in musicology and music education. The prerequisite for admission to Doctoral Studies is the successful completion of a course of study in the appropriate field of at least eight semesters at a university or other qualified higher education institution.
The diverse course offerings encompass a continually evolving network of interdisciplinary partnerships, projects for encouraging reflection, and masterclasses, all of which serve the common goal of forming mature and intelligent musicians who know what, how, and why they are playing, singing, or teaching.
The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg hosts several specialized institutes, each with a specific educational or research emphasis. One of the oldest is the New Music Institute, founded in 1964 by Wolfgang Fortner and expanded by Klaus Huber. It has four composition classes, its ensemble, a studio for electronic music and acoustics called "Selma," its concert series, and an impressive library for new music.
The Freiburg Institute for Music Medicine (fim) was founded in 2005 in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Freiburg. It is engaged in research on typical health problems confronted by musicians, prophylaxis, optimization of performance, and the physiological and psychological foundations of vocal functions and music-making. The Center for Music Medicine at the Freiburg University Medical Center is available to students as a therapeutic option.
The Institute of Music Theater carries out ambitiously directed, staged, and conducted music theater projects, giving students the experience of playing roles in professional theater production: from experimental plays and debut performances to classics of the opera repertoire early music.
The Institute of Historical Performance Practice is devoted to profound inquiry into historically informed interpretational approaches, an area in which the school has been intimately engaged for many years. Many members of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, for instance, are alumni of the Musikhochschule Freiburg.
The international exchange of students and faculty are becoming more and more essential and is promoted accordingly at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.
For example, by the end of the academic year 2008/09, the school had signed ERASMUS agreements with 41 other higher education institutions. Also, the school has signed direct agreements with six partner institutions:
- the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (USA)
- the Academy of Music in Odesa (Ukraine)
- the Frederik Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw (Poland)
- the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Australia)
- the University of Arts in Kyoto (Japan)
- the University of Toronto (Canada)
All agreements are continually evaluated for their efficiency and strategic relevance for students and the school itself as a higher education institution.
The intensive practical work being done at the school is manifested in over 450 concerts, evening lectures, opera performances, and academic events per year, which are an essential element of cultural life in Freiburg's music town. Our students are active in numerous ensembles at the school, including the Freiburg Drum Ensemble, the orchestra, the choir, the chamber orchestra, the chamber choir, and the school's big band, as well as the Schola Gregoriana and the Women's schola Exsulta Sion Freiburg.
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