Rehearsal and performance venues of the music faculty

For music students, practicing and playing is an elementary part of their studies. The University of the Arts Bremen offers all students and lecturers a wide range of spaces and venues to practice and perform. From individual rehearsal rooms in the light-flooded, three-storey extension, to a tower organ in an old observatory and further on to a newly renovated Musikkeller in an evocative, vaulted cellar that also serves excellent food, the Music Faculty provides numerous practice, teaching and event rooms at Dechanatstraße. Furthermore, a multifunctional event and concert hall with up to 400 seats in Speicher XI A in Bremen's Überseestadt offers space for concerts and opera performances. In addition to the diverse venues at the facilities of the HfK, the University is engaged in various cooperations with cultural and music institutions in the city, which enable members of the HfK community to present themselves and their art in Bremen and beyond. 

The Music Faculty provides spaces for events, teaching and practice as well as studios with a main usable area of almost 4,500 square meters. The use of these spaces is managed by a booking system, which means that the rooms are used optimally for concerts and lessons. Outside of these hours, members of the University may use them for practice. The rooms are appropriately equipped for teaching and are used intensively both for teaching and rehearsal purposes, while the equipment in the event spaces is continuously being adapted.

Students can pursue their daily practice in one of the numerous rehearsal rooms, which can be booked independently via the Asimut room booking system. The appropriately equipped practice rooms are located in the three-storey, light-flooded new building on Dechanatstraße. The practice rooms are oriented towards a window front that opens wide views towards the interior courtyard, which invites you to have lunch and linger with various seating options. In addition, the HfK has 38 individual classrooms with various facilities, seven rooms for ensembles, as well as four seminar rooms that offer space for teaching and rehearsals.

The HfK also provides various venues for concerts and events. Comprising some 228 square meters, the gallery on Dechanatstraße offers space for concerts, workshops, master classes, electro-acoustic concerts and other formats. The University Orchestra also rehearses here. The chamber music hall can also be used as a concert and event venue. The hall is equipped with a long mirror wall and parquet floor and is routinely used for dance training and physical exercises. In addition, the approximately 169 square meter room can be variably seated and is equipped with a sprung floor, two grand pianos and a piano. An additional special feature is the expansive balcony that can be accessed from the hall and offers a view of the courtyard. Another venue on Dechanatstraße is the light-flooded concert hall with variable seating. On around 240 square meters there is a stage with professional lighting, a permanently installed multi-channel sound system with the option of 3D audio, a sprung floor, two grand pianos and a piano. There is also a direct passage way to the adjoining, professionally equipped recording studio.

The Musikkeller of the HfK enriches the musical landscape of Bremen with a newly designed event location on around 155 square meters. From early music to electro-acoustic performances, from opera singing to piano concerts, a wide range of different musical forms of expression can be experienced live in the evocative atmosphere of the vaulted cellar. The HfK Jazzclub also takes place here regularly and invites you to listen or actively participate. By setting upthe restaurant Mensa13 at the site, the HfK has also created a new meeting place for excellent cuisine and concerts on the Dechanatstraße.

In addition to the venues on Dechanatstraße, Speicher XI A creates a place for learning, teaching, working and experimenting in Bremen's Überseestadt on around 2,000 square meters. A multi-use and barrier-free event and exhibition hall with around 400 seats offers space for concerts, opera performances and interdisciplinary projects such as sound and light productions. 

Music students at the HfK can also draw on the existing cooperations between the University and Bremen's cultural and music institutions for their exam concerts. This gives students the opportunity to perform in large concert halls such as the “Glocke” and present their music in the city and beyond. External venues for bachelor´s and master´s concerts as well as for other examination concerts and projects can be requested via the Artistic Operations Office (Künstlerisches Betriebsbüro, KBB) of the HfK. 

Of fundamental importance especially for early music, there is a globally unique landscape of musical organs in Northern Germany. In addition to the HfK’s own tower organ in the former observatory on Dechanatstraße, church music students have access to a large number of important organs in stylistic diversity and quality through numerous cooperations with parishes in Bremen and surrounding areas. Choir concerts by the HfK University Choir and other concerts by University members also take place regularly in one of the cooperating churches such as the Unser Lieben Frauen Kirche Bremen, the St. Petri Dom, the Friedenskirche Bremen, the Kulturkirche St. Stephani and the Waller Kirche. 

Formerly serving Radio Bremen as a venue for broadcasting concerts, the Sendesaal Bremen is regularly used for HfK orchestra projects. The Bremen Radio Hall is well-known for its excellent acoustics even beyond our borders, a top-notch recording studio and concert hall in one and well suited for acoustic performances of all genres. The “Glocke” Bremen is an expressionist concert hall in downtown Bremen next to the Dom. Excellent acoustics establish the “Glocke” as a first-class concert hall. The site is therefore the perfect venue for HfK orchestra projects on a regular basis. The disused “Altes Pumpwerk” as well as the Shakespeare Company and the Unser Lieben Frauen Kirche Bremen are being used for opera projects.