The in Berlin, Germany, is one of the leading universities of music in Europe. It was established in East Berlin in 1950 as the () because the older (now the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universit ...

) was in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. After the death of one of its first professors, composer

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...

, the school was renamed in his honor in 1964. After a renovation in 2005, the university is located in both Berlin's famed and the . The has a variety of ensembles including chamber music, choirs, orchestras and jazz.

The Hochschule

The

Hochschule ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right t ...

is structured in four divisions and four institutes. It offers programs in accordion, composition, conducting, coaching, drums, guitar, harmony and counterpoint, harp, jazz, music theatre, opera direction, strings, timpani, piano and wind instruments. The 2002 founded Kurt-Singer-Institut specializes on research on health for musicians. Since 2003 the Institut für neue Musik deals with contemporary music. With the foundation of the Jazz-Institut Berlin in 2005, the conservatoire gained an international level in jazz education; David Friedman, John Hollenbeck,

Judy Niemack Judy Niemack (born March 11, 1954) is an American jazz vocalist. Early life Judy Niemack was born in Pasadena, California to a musical family. She began singing in a church choir from the age of seven.Judy Niemack biography at All About Jazz ...

and

Jiggs Whigham Jiggs Whigham (born Oliver Haydn Whigham III; August 20, 1943) is an American jazz trombonist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, he began his professional career at the age of 17, joining the Glenn Miller/Ray McKinley orchestra ...

are counted among the professors. Every year, over 400 events are taking place – including concerts, opera productions, class recitals and exam concerts. The Hochschule collaborates with the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic Foundation. In both these houses regular orchestral, choral and staff concerts are presented.

History

After the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), all music schools and the only music college were situated in the west of Berlin. Hence the GDR Ministry for Education decided to establish a music college in the east sector. On 1 October 1950 the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik was founded. Professor

Georg Knepler Georg Knepler (21 December 1906 – 14 January 2003) was an Austrian pianist, conductor and musicologist. Life Born in Vienna, Knepler was a son of the composer and librettist and nephew of the music publisher and impresario . He studied pi ...

was the first director of the school. The teaching staff included Rudolph Wagner-Régeny and Hanns Eisler (composition), Helmut Koch (conducting), Helma Prechter, Arno Schellenberg (voice), Carl Adolf Martiensse, Grete Herwig (piano),

Gustav Havemann Gustav Havemann (15 March 1882 – 2 January 1960) was a German violinist and from 1933 to 1935 head of the "Reichsmusikerschaft" in the Reichsmusikkammer. Life Born in Güstrow, Havemann first learned to play the violin from his father, the mil ...

, Wilhelm Martens (violin), Bernhard Günther (cello), Werner Buchholz (viola) and Ewald Koch (clarinet). Since 1964 the conservatoire has been named Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. In 1950 a special school for music was founded. The conservatory built up a partnership with the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Schule. In 1953 the program of opera and musical theatre stage direction was established, as two students were interested in this subject. Thus the conservatory became one of the first schools in Europe to have a program of that kind. The state of Berlin following the 1990 German reunification took over the conservatory. Today it is under the jurisdiction of the Senate department of science, research and the arts.

People

Some notable alumni

Taner Akyol Taner Akyol (born 1977) is a Turkish saz or bağlama player and classical composer. Biography Akyol was born in Bursa. He studied in Germany at the Brandenburgischen Colloquium für Neue Musik and the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". In 200 ...

, composer * , clarinet * Maria Baptist, pianist and conductor * Thomas Böttger, pianist and composer *

Caroline Fischer Caroline Fischer (born 4 April 1984) is a German pianist. She has given concerts around the world and has received several awards and prizes. Musical education Caroline Fischer received her first piano lessons from her mother at the age of t ...

, pianist *

Vladimir Jurowski Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (; born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski. Early life Born in Moscow, Jurowski began h ...

, conductor *

Sol Gabetta Sol Gabetta (born 18 April 1981) is an Argentine cellist. The daughter of Andrés Gabetta and Irène Timacheff-Gabetta, she has French and Russian ancestry. Her brother Andrés is a baroque violinist. Career Gabetta began to learn violin at ...

, cellist * Marek Kalbus, bass-baritone *

Georg Katzer Georg Katzer (; 10 January 1935 – 7 May 2019) was a German composer and teacher. The last master student of Hanns Eisler, he composed music in many genres, including works for the stage. Katzer was one of the pioneers of electronic new music ...

, composer and teacher *

Akil Mark Koci Akil Mark Koci is a Kosovar Albanian composer and music writer. Education Koci was born in 1936 in Prizren, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (in today's Kosovo). There he graduated from the Josip Slavenski music school. He went on to study at the Saraj ...

, composer and writer *

Peter Konwitschny Peter Konwitschny (born 21 January 1945 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German opera and theatre director. Biography Peter Konwitschny grew up in Leipzig, where his father Franz Konwitschny was principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestr ...

, opera and theatre director *

Jochen Kowalski Jochen Kowalski (born 30 January 1954) is a German alto or mezzo countertenor, noted for his very rich timbre. Early life Jochen Kowalski was born in Wachow, Nauen District, Bezirk Potsdam, in East Germany (now a small village belonging to t ...

, alto *

Siegfried Matthus Siegfried Matthus (13 April 1934 – 27 August 2021) was a German composer, conductor, and festival founder and manager. Some of his operas, such as '' Judith'', were premiered at the Komische Oper Berlin in East Berlin. In 1991, he founded th ...

(1934–2021), composer and opera director *

Tilo Medek Tilo Medek, originally Müller-Medek (22 January 1940 – 3 February 2006), was a German classical composer, musicologist and music publisher. He grew up in East Germany, but was inspired by the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He composed radio plays an ...

(1940–2006), composer * Johannes Moser, cellist * Vera Nemirova (born 1972), stage director *

Anna Prohaska Anna Prohaska (born 1983) is an Austrian lyric soprano. She lives in Berlin. Career Anna Prohaska studied in Berlin at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. Prohaska made her debut in 2002 at the Komische Oper in Harry Kupfer’s production of Br ...

, soprano *

Michael Sanderling Michael Sanderling (born 21 February 1967) is a German conductor and violoncellist. Biography Born in East Berlin, Michael Sanderling is the son of the contrabassist Barbara Wagner and the conductor Kurt Sanderling. He received his first c ...

, conductor and violoncellist *

Diana Tishchenko Diana Tishchenko (; born 1990) is a German classical violinist of Ukrainian descent and the winner of the International Long Thibaud Crespin Competition in Paris 2018. Named “Rising Star” by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) in ...

(born 1990), Ukrainian violinist *

Jörg-Peter Weigle Jörg-Peter Weigle (born 1953, in Greifswald), is a German conductor and music professor. He is the uncle of the conductor Sebastian Weigle and the violist Friedemann Weigle. Weigle received his first musical training from 1963 to 1971 as a memb ...

, conductor and music professor * Kahchun Wong, conductor * Ji-Yeoun You, pianist *

Robert Zollitsch Robert Zollitsch (born 9 August 1938) is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau from 2003 to 2013 and was Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference from 2008 to 2014. Life and work Zollitsc ...

, composer

Some notable present and former faculty

* Fabio Bidini (piano) *

Willy Decker Willy Decker (born 1950) is a German theatre director, particularly known for his opera productions. He staged the world premieres of Hans Werner Henze's ''Pollicino'' (Montepulciano, 1980), Antonio Bibalo's ''Macbeth'' (Oslo, 1990), and Aribert ...

(honorary professor of musical theatre direction) *

(composition) *

Michael Endres Michael Endres (born 1961) is a German pianist. He was professor for piano from 1993 to 2004 at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Cologne, until 2009 at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin—since autumn 2009 at the University of Canterbury i ...

(piano) *

David Geringas David Geringas ( lt, Dovydas Geringas; born 29 July 1946 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the b ...

(cello) *

Helmut Koch (conductor) Helmut Koch (5 April 190826 January 1975) was a German conductor, choir leader, composer, and academic teacher. He was recording manager for the Berliner Rundfunk from 1945, where he founded the Rundfunkchor Berlin#Vorgeschichte, Solistenvereinig ...

(conducting, from 1952) *

(opera direction) *

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holo ...

(violin and chamber music) *

Hanspeter Kyburz Hanspeter Kyburz (born 8 July 1960) is a contemporary Swiss composer of classical music, known for applying electronic music techniques to his productions. Career Kyburz was born in Lagos, Nigeria to Swiss parents. In 1980, he began studying m ...

(composition) *

Hanno Müller-Brachmann Hanno Müller-Brachmann (born 1970) is a German bass-baritone who made an international career in both opera and concert. A member of the Berlin State Opera from 1998 to 2011, he first sang Mozart roles such as The Magic Flute, Papageno and The M ...

(voice) * Marie Luise Neunecker (horn) * Boris Piergamienszczikow (cello) *

Thomas Quasthoff Thomas Quasthoff (born 9 November 1959) is a German bass-baritone. Quasthoff has a range of musical interest from Bach cantatas, to lieder, and solo jazz improvisations. Born with severe birth defects caused by thalidomide, Quasthoff is , and has ...

(voice) * Corinna von Rad (visiting professor of opera direction) * Scot Weir (voice) *

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator and record label owner. Biography A native of Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel attended the Philadelphia High School for the ...

(jazz guitar) * Rainer Seegers (visiting professor of percussion) * Júlia Varady (opera interpretation) *

Katharina Wagner Katharina Wagner (born 21 May 1978 in Bayreuth) is a German opera stage director and is the director of the Bayreuth Festival. She is the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and Gudrun Wagner (née Armann), great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, and gre ...

(opera direction) *

Rudolf Wagner-Régeny Rudolf Wagner-Régeny (28 August 1903, Szászrégen, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Reghin, Romania) – 18 September 1969, Berlin) was a composer, conductor, and pianist. Born in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary ...

(composition) * Dieter Zechlin (piano) *

Ruth Zechlin Ruth Zechlin (22 June 1926 – 4 August 2007) was a German composer. Life Ruth Oschatz was born in Grosshartmannsdorf, where she began piano lessons at the age of five years, and wrote her first composition at the age of seven. From 1943 to 1 ...

(composition, counterpoint, instrumentation) *

Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist. Born in Lahr, she began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservat ...

(viola)

Senators of honour

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

, Italian conductor * Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist * Sir Simon Rattle, British conductor *

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

, German composer

References

External links

*
International Hanns Eisler SocietyEislerMusic.com

Effects of the Bologna Declaration on Professional Music Training in Europe

European Association of Conservatoires (AEC)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler Educational institutions established in 1950 1950 establishments in East Germany Universities and colleges in Berlin