Folkwang University of the Arts
![Logo](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Folkwang_University_logo_2010.gif)
The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in 4 German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in Essen in the Ruhr Area, with additional facilities in Duisburg, Bochum, and Dortmund, and, since 2010, at the Zeche Zollverein, a World Heritage Site also in Essen.[1] The Folkwang University is home to the international dance company Folkwang Tanz Studio (FTS). Founded as Folkwangschule, its name was Folkwang Hochschule (Folkwang Academy) from 1963 until 2009.
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History
The university shares its unusual name with the Museum Folkwang founded in 1902 by arts patron Karl Ernst Osthaus. The term Folkwang derives from Fólkvangr, the Old Norse name of a mythical meadow where the dead gather who are chosen by Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and beauty, to spend the afterlife with her.[2] The school's founders, opera director Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg and choreographer Kurt Jooss, regarded this Folkwang as a symbol for the arts as a unified whole, rather than divided into separate classes. The Folkwangschule für Musik, Tanz und Sprechen (Folkwang School for Music, Dance, and Speech) opened in 1927 in Essen, and in 1928 a previously established school of design merged with the institution.
In 1963 the Folkwang school was renamed Folkwang-Hochschule (Folkwang Academy). In 2010 the institution began offering graduate studies and was renamed Folkwang University of the Arts. This coincided with Ruhr.2010, the festival in which the Ruhr district was designated the European Capital of Culture for the year 2010.
Activities
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The Folkwang University unites training in music, theatre, dance, design and scholarship, in order to encourage collaboration among the arts.[3] Public events take place at the Folkwang University on its six in-house stages and in collaboration with cultural institutions of the region, such as the Philharmonie Essen , the Schauspielhaus Bochum, Musiktheater im Revier, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Wuppertaler Bühnen and the Ruhrfestspiele.
Undergraduate courses:
- Instrumental training for different musical instruments (accordion, bassoon, cello, clarinet, double bass, flute, guitar, harp, harpsichord, horn, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, recorder, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin)
- Jazz / Performing Artist
- Integrative composition (instrumental composition, electronic composition, jazz composition, pop composition, composition and visualisation)
- Church music
- Voice (concert performance, Lieder, oratorio and music theatre)
- School Music
- Music pedagogy
- Musicology in combination with an artistic subject
- Musicals
- Acting
- Physical Theatre
- Directing
- Dance
- Industrial Design
- Communication Design
- Photography
Advanced programs:
- Orchestral playing
- Conducting (orchestral/choir)
- Vocal Ensemble Direction
- Musicology in combination with an artistic discipline
- Chamber music
- Composition (electronic composition, instrumental composition, instrumental/electronic composition)
- Concert Performance
- Solo Dance
- Choreography
- Labanotation
- Dance Pedagogy
Staff
Staff have included:
- Hermann Baumann
- Young-Chang Cho
- Chris Houlding
- Nicolaus A. Huber
- Ifor James
- Kurt Jooss
- Uwe Köller
- Scott Lawton
- Fritz Lehmann
- Frank Lloyd
- Lore Lorentz
- Lauren Newton
- Walter Nicks
- Krzysztof Penderecki (1966 to 1968), composer
- Gerhard Stäbler
- Rita Streich (1920–1987), opera soprano
- Paul Tortelier
- Adolf Wamper (1901–1977), sculptor
Alumni
Alumni include:
- Pina Bausch (1940–2009), choreographer
- Max Burchartz
- Andreas Deja
- Vladimir Djambazov
- Tommy Finke
- Thomas Gabriel (composer)
- Agnes Giebel (born 1920), soprano
- Ulrike Grossarth (born 1952), dancer and visual artist
- Reinhild Hoffmann (born 1943), choreographer
- Theo Jörgensmann
- Salome Kammer, cellist, vocalist
- David Kamp
- Heinz Kiwitz
- Susanne Linke
- Gerd Ludwig
- Ann Mandrella
- John McGuire (composer)
- Carlos Orta
- Jürgen Prochnow (born 1941), actor
- Andreas Pruys, bass
- Karl Ridderbusch
- Armin Rohde (born 1955), actor
- Thomas Ruff
- Stefanie Schneider
- Peter Schwickerath (1942–), sculptor
- Harald Siepermann, animator and character designer[4]
- Anton Stankowski
- Günther Strupp
- Raphael Thoene
- Graham Waterhouse (born 1962), composer and cellist
- Dirk Weiler
See also
References
- ^ Deutschlandradio New Name and Building, 10 January 2010 (in German)
- ^ "History". Folkwang-uni.de. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ academics The Institution – Courses – Activities
- ^ Amidi, Amid (2013-02-16). "Harald Siepermann (1962-2013)". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Folkwang University
- Folkwang Tanz-Studio
- ICEM Institute For Computer Music and Electronic Media (in German)
Further reading
- Neuhaus, Thomas. “[Institutions] Folkwang University: Development of Electronic Music and the ICEM – Institut für Computermusik und Elektronische Medien (Essen, Germany).” eContact! 12.4 – Perspectives on the Electroacoustic Work / Perspectives sur l’œuvre électroacoustique (August 2010). Montréal: CEC.