Start of the new academic year at the University of the Arts Bremen

On Monday, October 7th, the official semester opening took place at the Galerie on Dechanatstraße, where 213 first-semester students were welcomed. An additional 21 will be starting in the coming weeks. This year, the incoming class includes 106 new students in the Faculty of Music and 128 in the Faculty of Art and Design. More than 2,590 prospective students applied, and in total, 1,037 musicians and artists are currently enrolled at the HfK.

Almost half (49 per cent) of the student body is made up of international students, enriching the campus with diverse perspectives. The largest group of foreign first-year students comes from China (13 per cent), followed by South Korea (11 per cent). Other countries represented include Iran and Russia (4 per cent each), Italy and Japan (3 per cent each), as well as Portugal, Taiwan, Ukraine, the USA, and Brazil (1 per cent each).

In her welcoming speech, Rector Prof. Dr Mirjam Boggasch emphasised the role of the University of the Arts Bremen as a lively place of exchange and personal development: "The combination of art, design, digital media and music in particular not only opens up a wide range of opportunities for you to fully tap into your creative potential, to engage with new or unfamiliar things, to discover challenging and familiar things and to develop beyond professional boundaries. Use the diversity of these disciplines as an opportunity for your personal and professional development – not only an academic challenge, but also an opportunity for self-development and creative exchange."

In addition to the Rector's welcoming address, the activities of the Students‘ Union (AStA), the Students‘ Parliament (StuRa) and the student initiatives "Stipa" and "Language Assistance" were also presented. These support students with questions about scholarships, applications and financial matters as well as language challenges in everyday life.

Another highlight of the event, which was moderated by HfK student Aaron Schröder, was the presentation of the DAAD prize for outstanding achievements by international students. The winner, violist Davit Aydiyan, impressed the audience with a specially composed musical performance.

In addition, this year's winners of the University Prize Music, Francisco Henriques (baritone) and Gretel Jazeron (piano), performed two outstanding interpretations of Robert Schumann.

On October 1st, several distinguished professors joined the University of the Arts Bremen. "With their outstanding expertise and years of diverse experience, our new professors will greatly enhance teaching and research at HfK Bremen, while also contributing to the cultural landscape of Bremen for years to come," said Prof. Dr. Mirjam Boggasch.

Professorship for philosophy

Prof. Dr. Fahim Amir is a philosopher whose work explores the intersections of nature, culture, materiality, and colonialism. His critically acclaimed book „Schwein und Zeit. Tiere, Politik, Revolte“ (2018) (English: Pig and Time: Animals, Politics, Revolt) challenges the romanticization of nature, focusing on politics rather than ethics. The book has won several awards and made it onto the best non-fiction lists of Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ZDF, and ZEIT in 2019. Amir has taught at universities and art academies across Europe and the Americas, including the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (São Paulo), and ArtCenter College of Design (Los Angeles). He has also curated major art festivals like the Live Art Festival in Hamburg and exhibitions such as those at the Secession in Vienna. His popular philosophy podcast "Hirn und Amir" can be found on all major platforms.

Now bringing his expertise to Bremen, Prof. Dr. Amir notes: "We are living in dangerous times. These are precisely times when thinking is particularly important. Even if you sometimes come out of philosophy more confused than when you went in. Think like there's tomorrow. This ranges from thoughts that have the power to shake us to our very core by fundamentally expanding our usual perspectives to approaches tackling the most explosive question of our time: How do we live together?"

Professorship for guitar

Prof. Dr. Fabian Hinsche is an internationally renowned classical guitarist, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. His concert tours with the "Mare Duo" have taken him across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. 

He teaches at institutions such as the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and the Institute for Music at the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, and has released numerous CDs for the Naxos Label, among others.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has won numerous prizes at prestigious competitions in Germany and abroad. In addition to his artistic career, he completed a doctorate in media culture analysis on the subject of "Ästhetik der musikalischen Interpretation“ (English: Aesthetics of musical interpretation) and regularly publishes on musicological, guitaristic and aesthetic topics and is editor of the „EGTA-Journals – die neue Gitarrenzeitschrift" (English: EGTA Journal – the new guitar magazine).

Prof. Dr. Hinsche: "I am very much looking forward to my new role at the University of the Arts Bremen. The guitar is an instrument with over 500 years of history, captivating people from taverns to royal courts in equal measure. It continues to thrive in contemporary contexts. Along with a solid artistic education that reflects this rich history, pedagogical training is a key part of studying this globally beloved instrument."

Professorship for scenic design

Director Prof. Ansgar Weigner studied musicology, art history and German language and literature at the University of Bonn. In his master's thesis, he focussed on the leitmotif technique in Richard Strauss' opera "Die Frau ohne Schatten"(English: The Woman without a shadow). During his studies, he gained directing experience through internships and assistantships at renowned opera houses, including the Saxon State Opera and the German Opera on the Rhine. After graduating, he worked as an assistant director at the Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden and began his successful freelance career in 2007/08. Since 2023, he has been teaching stage direction at the the Institute for Music at the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück.

Prof. Weigner: "After nearly 20 years of working as a freelance director for musical theater, I am very much looking forward to my new role at the University of the Arts Bremen. What I am particularly passionate about is conveying psychological processes and their physical expression, which singing performers must master on stage in their professional lives. Only when vocal technique and stage interpretation are harmoniously combined can a cohesive scenic impression be created."

Visiting professor in the Faculty of Art and Design

Emma Waltraud Howes has been appointed as a visiting professor in the Faculty of Art and Design. Howes acts as a translator between movement and form. Her academic background in dance, art, and performance forms the basis for her interdisciplinary works, which merge movement, space, and visual art.

Howes began her career studying ballet and baroque opera before joining the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre as an ensemble member. She went on to earn a certificate in professional dance training from the Toronto Dance Theatre, a BFA from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, and an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal. During her studies, she received an international scholarship for the New Artistic Strategies programme at Bauhaus University Weimar. Additionally, she led a martial arts school for ten years.

Visiting professor Howes: "I’m excited to collaborate with the Freie Klasse and share my transdisciplinary approach to creative processes. Through a focus on expanded sculpture and performance, we will explore how small shifts in perception and intention can build a cohesive body of work. This semester, I’ll offer tools for transforming embodied experiences and research, to generate material and conceptual frames using techniques like translation, scoring, sculpting, and muscular/sonic bonding – giving form to intention and intention to form."

Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Urbaniak has taken up the role of Professor of Historical Organ at the University of the Arts Bremen as of October 1st. This endowed professorship is made possible through the generous support of the Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation.

Urbaniak studied organ and harpsichord in Warsaw and Stuttgart, later earning his doctorate from the Academy of Music in Krakow. His career includes a professorship in organ at the State Academy of Music in Łódź, as well as teaching positions at the Academy of Music in Krakow and various international masterclasses. He also serves as a jury member at organ competitions and is recognized globally as an expert in organ performance and history.

His inaugural concert will take place on Tuesday, November 5th, at 6 p.m. at the Lange Reihe Church in Walle. The programme will feature works from the transition between the late Renaissance and Baroque periods, including three pieces by Johann Ulrich Steigleder. These will be performed on an organ specifically built for this purpose in the church’s western gallery, crafted by the Dutch workshop Winold van der Putten in 2002. The organ, with its 26 stops across the main, chest, choir, and pedal divisions, is designed according to the principles of the North German-Dutch organ tradition of the 17th century, both in terms of its construction and its tonal aesthetics.

Further information are available here. 

Prof. Tanja Tetzlaff has been the Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the University of the Arts Bremen since April 1st. With over three decades of international experience as a soloist and chamber musician, she is known for her involvement in projects addressing current issues, including climate protection. Bremen audiences will recognize her as the former principal cellist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Most recently, she served as a visiting professor for three years at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama. Tetzlaff plays a 1776 cello crafted by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini and studied under Professor Bernhard Gmelin at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama, and under Professor Heinrich Schiff at the Mozarteum Salzburg.

Her inaugural concert will take place on Thursday, December 5th, at 8 p.m. in the Konzersaal on Dechanatstraße. The programme will include works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as Black Ice for Cello and Tape (2018/20) by Thorsten Encke, a solo piece. Tetzlaff will perform together with Prof. Martin Stadtfeld, who became the HfK's Professor of Piano in October 2023.

Further information are available here.