In the summer semester, we are once again working with the internationally renowned Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In the seminar we will discuss, among other things, the role of classical orchestras in today's society. We will talk about innovative concert formats, music education and the development of a responsible concert life. Students will take a look behind the scenes and get to know the working practices of various orchestras. They will also engage in practical activities and implement a joint project with the MCO: a VR project by the MCO in the Museum Lüneburg. Among other things, they will develop an interactive opening event with music, inputs and audience dialog.
Students will once again have the opportunity to take part in the ultraBACH festival (08.-16.11.2025) organized by ensemble reflektor. In addition to concerts at the university and at various venues in Lüneburg, a video exhibition on the “Fünfspartenhaus der Einheit” will also be curated, documenting the orchestra's stops in Oberhavel, Köthen, Greifswald and Chemnitz. The students are involved in the conception and implementation of various festival activities. They develop concepts, texts or other media artifacts and accompany the ensemble in the implementation of the festival.
Following the successful seminar with the Cuban artists' collective “Ensemble Interactivo de la Habana”, students will deepen their understanding of the political, economic and cultural conditions for artistic creation in Cuba in this seminar. In preparation for a planned 10-day excursion to Cuba (26.09.-06.10.2025), they will critically reflect on their own positionality and power relations in the music ecosystem. Practices of fair cooperation in the musical context will be discussed. They will also look at how the Cuban community deals with current challenges such as increasing emigration and the dysfunctional economic system. On site, students will get to know various music institutions and (auto)ethnographically examine the self-images and images of the actors.
An additional selection procedure precedes the regular registration procedure via myStudy. Please send your letter of motivation to Lea Jakob by 15.03.2025.
The seminar is aimed at students of all disciplines and requires no prior knowledge. In the summer semester 2025, students will work with the TONALiSTEN and their partner musicians Johannes Worms (baritone) and Teresa Raff (harp) to explore how current topics can be staged musically and communicated to an audience. After selecting the topics for the concert lab, the students will work in small groups on topics such as concert dramaturgy, audience interaction and accompanying mediation offers. The concert format developed will be performed twice in public at the end of the semester: at the TONALi-Saal in Hamburg and at the Lunatic Festival (June 2025).
In cooperation with the Museum Lüneburg and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the seminar “Virtual Reality in the Museum” offers the unique opportunity to deepen skills at the interface between technology, cultural knowledge transfer and operational success.
Based on theoretical approaches to the creation of experiences, students are enabled to design innovative qualitative research approaches in a self-determined way and to apply them in practice using an immersive “Virtual Reality” installation of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the Museum Lüneburg.
In this way, the seminar sharpens the strategic and operational know-how for creating experiences and opens up a deep understanding of the underlying psychological perception processes and the design of qualitative analyses.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) and Leuphana University Lüneburg will cooperate starting in October 2024 as part of the Leuphana Concert Lab. The specific topic of this cooperation will be the Musikwoche Hitzacker, which the MCO leads as Artistic Director from 2024 to 2028.
Founded in 1997, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra is one of the most renowned chamber orchestras worldwide. As a democratic and globally touring collective, the ensemble also serves as a model for an open society based on dialogue. It is led by its 50 members alongside its Berlin-based management. The MCO regularly explores new horizons with its groundbreaking programs and formats.
Leuphana University Lüneburg is known as a place for inspiring study, transdisciplinary research, ingenuity, personal development, and social commitment. It has received numerous awards for its development as a humanistic, action-oriented, and sustainable university, as well as for its support of startups. A special feature of the university is its interdisciplinary study model.
The Leuphana Concert Lab is a transdisciplinary project that brings together students from all faculties with musicians and partners from academia and the music business. In seminars and workshops, they discuss and work on overarching social issues and challenges. In the current semester, the students are developing concert formats and educational strategies around the topic of “transformation” and applying them in concrete projects in the region.
“We see this cooperation as a great opportunity to network with institutions in the region as part of our artistic direction of Musikwoche Hitzacker, and to exchange ideas with Leuphana students. By involving them in the concept for Musikwoche 2026, we want to increase the relevance of the festival, especially for young people", says Janina Rinck, Development Manager of the MCO.
“For us as a university, the cooperation with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra offers an outstanding opportunity to live transdisciplinarity in teaching and research. The students can work with an exciting artistic partner on current issues, and gain insights into practice. At the same time, students experience a high level of self-efficacy through the concrete implementation of the Musikwoche”, explains Prof. Dr. Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn, Project Director of the Leuphana Concert Lab.
The 39th edition of Musikwoche Hitzacker, “Bewegte Zeiten”, will take place from February 28 to March 9, 2025. The full program is available here.