First things first: students who choose composition as a subject at the HfMDK are choosing art – they are choosing to explore and create music freely, regardless of whether they are heading towards a Bachelor's or Master's degree.

Students are encouraged to explore the growing field of electroacoustic music and electronic media in parallel with instrumental music, and to explore the artistic use of technology in general. Methodologically, we support them in this – we work according to the model of student-centered learning, while at the same time offering interdisciplinary exchange. In this way, we achieve that students successively develop their own focal points and later have a lot of confidence in the implementation of their ideas.

Short paths, long project list

There is plenty of space and opportunity for experimentation, for example with the Studio for Electronic Music and Acoustics (selma) and the Frankfurt LAB. We also regularly organize class concerts, participate in the shortcuts series organized by the Institute for Contemporary Music IzM, and maintain contact with the project funding fund KunstPAKT. Externally, we cooperate with the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and the off-theater scene, with the Mainz University of Applied Sciences (for the Luminale) and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, among others.

The HfMDK Foundation supports the university with the endowed guest professorship in composition. Responsible for the IzM, it brings internationally renowned composers to Frankfurt for a year to work with students of all disciplines. The first of these were Brian Ferneyhough from Great Britain (2019) and Lucia Ronchetti from Italy (2020).