Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie

This is where the song scene of tomorrow meets! The Liedakademie focuses on master classes with Artistic Director Thomas Hampson. Concert performances in Heidelberg and career preparation coaching round off the year-round support program for young singers and pianists.

What began in 2011 as a highly condensed course offering as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival has developed into a year-round support program for young singers and pianists from all over the world. The masterclasses with the Academy's Artistic Director Thomas Hampson will take place as part of the Liedakademie's four work phases in Heidelberg, some of which will be open to the public and streamed live. The young artists can also be seen performing at the Liedfestival in Heidelberg, in some cases with specially curated programmes.

A wide variety of coaching, workshop and discussion formats with different lecturers provide inspiring professional impulses and help to reflect on one's own artistic work. Get-togethers and free visits to concerts at the Heidelberger Frühling Liedfestival round off the year-round support program. They enable the scholarship holders to make lasting contacts and become part of the Liedzentrum's dense network.

In recent years, the Liedakademie has developed innovative projects such as the staged Lied.Lab DIA_LOG and the short film project Lied me! In addition, many former scholarship holders such as Nadine Sierra, Benjamin Appl and Elsa Dreisig have gone on to successful and impressive careers.

Liedakademie 2024/25

Applications for the Liedakademie 2024/25 can be submitted from June 3 to July 1 via the Muvac application platform for classical music. Singers and pianists born in 1995 or later are eligible to apply. Applicants register on the Muvac platform and upload the following documents:

-Portrait photos

-Curriculum vitae

-Links to 3 video recordings (1 song of free choice by Franz Schubert / 1 song of free choice from the standard German-language song repertoire / 1 song of completely free choice)

-Song repertoire list (no opera roles)

Singers and pianists apply individually and are assessed individually in the auditions, even if they audition as an existing duo.

The auditions will take place from 24. - September 25, 2024 in Heidelberg.

Detailed information about the Liedakademie, the application process, the conditions of participation and the link to the call for applications on Muvac will be announced here at the start of the application process on June 3.

The new Liedakademie year started with the first module in mid-October 2023. One of the highlights was the public master class with artistic director Thomas Hampson, in which a total of 12 young singers and pianists presented themselves to the Heidelberg audience for the first time. Musicality, technique, the historical context of the songs, and finding one's own expressiveness were all addressed here. The artists received great applause for their performance.

The second module took place in January. From January 22 to 28, the young scholarship holders were guests in the Schubert Week curated by Artistic Director Thomas Hampson at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. In two public workshops and the final workshop concert, they devoted themselves to the great Lied composer Franz Schubert in direct juxtaposition with Hugo Wolf, who is no less important for the Lied genre.

With the last module as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedfestival in June 2024, the current year will celebrate its conclusion and climax at the same time. The 12 scholarship holders can be experienced in public master classes with Artistic Director Thomas Hampson and pianist Susan Manoff and will perform the grand final concert, in which each will perform a Brahms setting from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" as well as another Brahms song. Admission to all Liedakademie events at the Liedfestival is free of charge for pupils, trainees and students. To the Liedakademie events at the Liedfestival