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Lecture series

The university as a think tank

The musicology lecture series is a central event for the entire university. Each semester, it addresses a different overarching and relevant topic. Internationally renowned speakers present insights and outlooks in cooperation with musicology and the artistic departments at the university: on contemporary musical life, on music-historical questions, on composers, on central aspects of the history of music in Europe. Science and art enter into a dialogue, and everyone is invited to get to know the university as a place of knowledge transfer, as a thinking workshop.

Dates

  • All lecture series take place on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Chamber Music Hall of HfMT Cologne.
  • The lecture series at HfMT are public events. Visitors from outside the university are welcome.
  • Lectures in the field of dance studies are open to the public. Please inquire for dates.
THE FUTURE(((s)))OF MUSIC
  • April 15, 2026, through July 15, 2026

Music and theater are among the most important pillars of our culture, and their social significance is immense: They offer unique experiences, inspire critical engagement, and bring people together—both in the audience and on and behind the stage. Musical and theatrical arts are also closely linked institutionally: Most German orchestras are based at theaters and
opera houses. About one-third of public cultural spending
in Germany is currently allocated to theater and music, and the lion’s share of these subsidies goes to orchestras and music theaters. Yet financial leeway is shrinking, and cultural institutions are facing increasing pressure to justify their existence. Opera has mostly been an elite art form with limited social reach. The lecture series therefore also addresses the
question of what a socially responsible music theater for everyone might look like—in the present as well as in the past and the future.

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  • THE FUTURE(((s)))OF MUSIC (Winter Semester 2025)
  • Happy Birthday: 100 Years of the Cologne University of Music and Dance (1925 to 2025) (Summer Semester 2025)
  • Favorite Music: From Subjective Experience to Objective Discussion (Winter Semester 2024/25)
  • Between Istanbul and Cologne: Post-Migrant Soundscapes in the Dialogue of Academic Cultures (Summer Semester 2024)
  • Connections: Music / Media / Cultures (Winter Semester 2023/24)
  • Original and Forgery? Controversial Authorship in Music, Art, and Literature (Summer Semester 2023)
  • Metamorphoses of Humanity: The Interplay of Humanity, Nature, Art, and Technology (Winter Semester 2022/23)
  • “It’s a Man’s World?” Women Artists in Europe’s Musical Capitals of the Early 20th Century (Summer Semester 2022)
  • Into the Unknown: The Art of Improvisation (Summer Semester 2021)
  • Beethoven Under the Microscope: New Perspectives on Interpretation, Analysis, and Reception (Winter Semester 2020/21)
  • Music in Focus: Auditory and Visual Cultures (Summer Semester 2019)
  • Music That Creates Knowledge! (Winter Semester 2018/19)
  • Music in Private Spaces: Sound, Dialogue, and Encounter (Summer Semester 2018)
  • World Music: Artists – Concepts – Perspectives (Summer Semester 2017)
  • Music as Currency – The Value of Music (Winter Semester 2016/17)
  • Concepts of Melody (Summer Semester 2016)
  • Musical Interpretation (Winter Semester 2015/16)
  • "Concepts of Rhythm in a Cross-Cultural Comparison" (Summer Semester 2014)
  • "Music in the Dialogue of the Arts" (Winter Semester 2013/14)
  • "1813–2013: Wagner, Verdi, and Opera" (Summer Semester 2013)
  • "Key Works of Contemporary Music" (Winter Semester 2012/13)
  • "Music in the Age of Its Technical (Re)Producibility" (Summer Semester 2012)
  • "Music and Nature" (Winter Semester 2011/12)
  • "Music in France" (Summer Semester 2011)
  • "Concepts of Melody in a Cross-Cultural Comparison" (Winter Semester 2010/2011)
  • “Cologne as a City of Music: History – Present – Perspectives” (Winter/Spring 2009/10)
  • “Concepts of Rhythm in a Cross-Cultural Comparison” (Summer Semester 2009)
  • “Early Music with New Ears” (Winter Semester 2008/09)
  • “Concepts of Music: New Music After 1950” (Summer Semester 2008)
  • “Voices – Concepts of Voice” (Fall/Winter 2007/08)
  • “History|Herstory: Alternative Music Histories” (Summer Semester 2007)
  • “Processes of Change in Musical Cultures” (Winter/Spring 2006/07)
  • “Mozart” (Summer Semester 2006)
  • "Music and Politics" (Fall/Spring 2005/2006)
Referent auf der Bühne mit Publikum während einer Vorlesung.
You might also be interested in
Portrait Prof. Dr. Anna Schürmer
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Anna Schürmer
Juniorprofessorin für Musikwissenschaft/ Sound Studies
Email anna.schuermer@hfmt-koeln.de
Telephone 0221-28380-361
Address
Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln
Theodor Heuss Ring 14, Raum 009
50668 Köln