Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg
The Hochschule für Musik Nûrnberg sees vocational orientation as an important aspect of its courses, focusing on increasing the employment opportunities of their graduates through multiple qualifications. These extra qualifications can be gained in the music education area exploring other instruments, in historical performance practice, in Elementary music education and also in directing choirs and ensembles.
A relatively young institution, the third state University of Music in Bavaria, Hochschule für Muzik Nürnberg was established as late as 2008, yet has traditions dating back to the early 19th century, being the result of the merging of the Meistersinger-Konservatorium in Nuremberg and the Leopold-Mozart-Konservatorium in Augsburg. The Meistersinger-Konservatorium dates back from 1821 when Johannes Scharrer founded the Städtische Singschule, which later became the State Music School, and from 1972 was known as the "Fachakademie für Musik und Meistersinger-Konservatorium”
The University today offers degree programmes in all orchestra instruments, but also in singing, piano, organ, guitar, accordion and classical saxophone. The jazz department, which is thoroughly integrated in the clubs of the city, is alive and kicking, as is the department of early music, which regularly attracts unusual events to Nuremberg, thanks to its links throughout Europe.
Today, the University sees around 400 music students go through its doors every year, both in Music performance and Music Education classical and jazz.
The Jazz department at Nuremberg University of Music is thriving and has long since earned an excellent reputation in the Nuremburg metropolitan region and beyond. One of their projects, The Nuremberg University of Music Big Band, is very popular and in addition to their weekly rehearsals, they frequently hold week-long intensive work shops under the direction of Professors Klaus Graf and Steffen Schorn. The program for the workshops includes contemporary compositions by students and teachers from HfmN, pieces by current and interesting German composers as well as classics from extensive big band repertoire. It is this interaction, the intensity and the energy created particularly during the week-long workshops, that is released during concerts and that the audiences find so inspiring.
Klaus Graf and Steffen Schorn, both professors of jazz saxophone, have worked with the who's who of the international jazz scene. They have been making music together for over 25 years and have passed on their love for great orchestral jazz to the next generation through their work at the Hochschule fur Muzik Nurnburg
In addition to other international collaborations, the HfMN is part of the Erasmus+ funded international collaborative project The Jazz Workshop alongside nine other partners in the UK, Scotland, Italy, Norway and Germany.The objectives of this project is to collaboratively develop new repertoire for large jazz ensembles and contribute to the revitalization of the role large jazz ensembles have on the professional music and art scene.
One of the main objectives is also to develop closer collaboration between jazz education and the labour market, through close collaboration with important jazz festivals, to enhance working life relevance of the jazz education and students’ entrepreneurial skills. HfMN have a close working relationship with the NUEjazz festival.
