Con­duc­ting

Why stu­dy con­duc­ting at the HfMDK?

At the HfMDK, we be­lie­ve that the con­duc­tors of to­mor­row should not only re­cei­ve ex­cel­lent class­room in­st­ruc­tion du­ring their trai­ning, but should also gain as much prac­ti­cal ex­pe­ri­ence as pos­si­ble in front of en­sem­bles, choirs and or­che­s­tras.

We of­fer you re­gu­lar col­la­bo­ra­ti­ons with va­rious uni­ver­si­ty en­sem­bles (uni­ver­si­ty or­ches­tra, uni­ver­si­ty choir), a wide ran­ge of coope­ra­ti­on pro­jec­ts with or­che­s­tras and choirs throughout Ger­ma­ny and a lar­ge net­work of ope­ra houses and ra­dio choirs for as­si­stant po­si­ti­ons.

A com­pre­hen­si­ve, broad­ly po­si­tio­ned edu­ca­ti­on is im­portant to us and we see our­sel­ves as a team in which we work tog­e­ther across clas­ses and di­sci­pli­nes.

Our con­duc­ting de­gree pro­grams are de­si­gned to de­ve­lop strong ar­tis­tic per­so­na­li­ties who are able to rehe­ar­se and per­form even the most com­plex and de­man­ding cho­ral and or­ches­tral works with tech­ni­cal and mu­si­cal mas­te­ry.

Our gra­dua­tes are able to de­ve­lop in­de­pen­dent, thought­ful and me­a­ning­ful in­ter­pre­ta­ti­ons on the ba­sis of the spe­cia­list know­ledge and sen­se of style of dif­fe­rent gen­res and epochs they have ac­qui­red du­ring their stu­dies. They have a pre­ci­se con­duc­ting tech­ni­que and a sty­listi­cal­ly dif­fe­ren­tia­ted and ex­pres­si­ve body lan­guage, which also en­ab­les them to ac­com­pa­ny both in­stru­men­tal and vo­cal so­loists with con­fi­dence.

They as­su­me re­spon­si­bi­li­ty, ac­qui­re ana­ly­ti­cal and or­ga­ni­za­tio­nal skills and are able to com­mu­ni­ca­te and im­ple­ment their mu­si­cal ide­as clear­ly, ef­fi­ci­ent­ly in terms of rehe­ar­sal me­thods, in a con­tem­pora­ry man­ner and with pe­dago­gi­cal and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal skills in de­aling with en­sem­bles of dif­fe­rent si­zes and at dif­fe­rent le­vels.

Con­duc­ting pro­jec­ts take place several times a se­mes­ter in front of pro­fes­sio­nal or­che­s­tras. The Göt­tin­gen Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra, the Neu­bran­den­burg Phil­har­mo­nic Or­ches­tra, the Bre­mer­ha­ven Phil­har­mo­nic Or­ches­tra, the Stadt­thea­ter Gie­ßen, the Rhei­ni­sche Phil­har­mo­nie Ko­blenz, the Staats­thea­ter Mainz and the Staats­thea­ter Darm­stadt are among the per­ma­nent coope­ra­ti­on part­ners of the or­ches­tral con­duc­ting class.

For stu­dents ma­jo­ring in cho­ral con­duc­ting, a pro­fes­sio­nal vo­cal en­sem­ble, the ban­da vo­ca­le frank­furt, is put tog­e­ther once a se­mes­ter for a one-week rehe­ar­sal and con­cert pha­se.

For all con­duc­ting cour­ses, the­re is also our con­duc­ting stu­dio, whe­re stu­dents can re­gu­lar­ly gain prac­ti­cal ex­pe­ri­ence. In ad­di­ti­on, our stu­dents re­gu­lar­ly work with the uni­ver­si­ty­'s en­sem­bles (uni­ver­si­ty choir, uni­ver­si­ty or­ches­tra), both in rehe­ar­sals and in con­certs. Several times a se­mes­ter, we hold in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry class evenings with the com­po­si­ti­on or vo­cal de­part­ments.

We are plea­sed to be able to of­fer all stu­dents several as­si­stant po­si­ti­ons per se­mes­ter, which pro­vi­de an in­sight into the pro­fes­sio­nal world. Our stu­dents as­sist at the Deut­sche Oper Ber­lin, the Co­lo­gne Ope­ra, the Staats­thea­ter Wies­ba­den and the RIAS Cham­ber Choir, among others.