A wide variety of events: non-stop creativity and music-making

With more than 350 events a year - from evenings of performances by students to the grand prizewinners' gala - the University of Music and Drama plays host to visitors from Hanover and the Region almost daily.

This makes the University one of the biggest concert organisers in the State of Lower Saxony. It has its own classical symphony orchestra, directed by Eiji Oue, and a university jazz orchestra run by Professor Herbert Hellhund.

The concert choir is directed by Professor Löhr and Professor Nussbaum, alternating annually, while the 30-strong vocal ensemble Vivid Voices, conducted by Anne Kohler, or the band "The S'coolmasters", which was set up on the students' own initiative ten years ago, are just two examples of the culture of practical music-making that is lived out at the HMTH. In addition, many ensembles and spontaneous groupings arise out of the day-to-day musical creativity that is to be found at the University - and often continue to exist even after the students have long gone down.

Cooperation agreements bring closeness to real practice and promote exchange

Cooperation agreements and joint events with the State Theatre, the Landesbühne state theatrical touring company and North German Radio NDR in Hanover, together with collaboration on the national and international levels with high-calibre promoters and reputed companies working in the most diverse fields of scientific development and the media reflect the closeness of the training given to real practice. On an international level, the HMTH cooperates closely with other music academies such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg or the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, and with other institutions throughout the world.

Research and discovery at the HMTH

With the popinstitut hannover and the European Centre for Jewish Music, the strongly research-based Institutes for Music and Gender, Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Musical Education Research and Journalism and Communication Research, and also the Study Centre for World Music, the University brings together under one roof a whole range of unusual institutions that offer a wide variety of opportunities for study. These are reflected, for example, in the new courses in "Popular Music", "Media and Music" or "Music research and music education/communication".

The research done at the six academic institutions focuses on the areas of medicine for musicians, media sciences, musical education, world music, synagogue music, musicology and gender studies. Our experts are in great demand, both from the media, which regularly seek their opinions in many different areas, and also in connection with many academic projects in their various specialist areas.

Advancement of musically gifted young people at the IFF and VIFF

Since the year 2000, children and young people from around the age of 13 have been able to undergo training at the HMTH in the form of a fully-fledged course of study at the "Institute for the Advancement of Young Musicians" (IFF). The IFF was established on the initiative of Professor Bernd Goetzke, and after intensive collaboration between the University for Music and Drama Hanover, the responsible ministries of the State Government and the Lower Saxony Foundation, with a view to contributing towards improving the teaching and training of musically gifted children and young people. The IFF course of study is unique of its kind.

In 2004 the IFF institute was extended by the addition of a pre-study class, the VIFF, for children aged nine and upwards, in order to give children of primary school age access to the training programme as well.

Teaching and work in musical education

In addition to academic education and the training of artistic performers, training in the area of musical education represents an important part of the HMTH's activities. There is a desperate shortage of well-trained instrumental teachers, conductors for children's and youth choirs and school music teachers. In Hanover, wide-ranging courses of study conducted with great competence endow students in these areas with the skills they will need in their later professions. Students enjoy excellent conditions in progressive courses that have already been adapted to lead to Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Drama and opera at the HMTH

All the world's a stage, and the stage is all the world for budding opera singers and actors. They too are trained at the University of Music and Drama Hanover. Actors for the theatre, the cinema and television are successfully trained in the eight-semester drama course at the HMTH. Some 40 students follow this course at the premises in the Kurt Schwitters Forum on Hanover's Expo Plaza. Around two new productions per semester are presented on the stage of the Studio Theatre there.

Opera singers are trained equally competently in artistic practice and in academic theory at the HMTH. They demonstrate their vocal and acting abilities at the annual opera performances within the University, which are considered a particular highlight in the calendar of events.

Right at the heart of the State Capital

Hanover offers an enormous range of cultural attractions. Starting from the programmes of the State Theatre, of North German Radio and of the many museums and art galleries, not forgetting the Jazz Club and other smaller event centres, and also encompassing a fine pop music scene and such major events as the great Maschsee Lake Festival every summer, the city has something to offer for every taste. The University of Music and Drama Hanover sees itself as an integral part of the city and its culture. The students take part not only in concerts and theatrical performances at the University, but also in very many other events in the city and the region, either professionally or for their own private enjoyment.

Our professors and lecturers are involved in countless musical foundations, institutions and clubs, and exercise their professions in many other ways in addition to their teaching at the University - in most cases to the benefit of up-and-coming young artists. This mutual exchange represents a constant enrichment in the most diverse ways, both for Hanover and for the HMTH.