"The artistic personality must be recognizable"

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Georg Hajdu sets multimedia accents with his class

Georg Hajdu has been Professor of Multimedia Composition (MMM) at the HfMT since 2002. Born in Göttingen in 1960, the composer, musicologist and researcher enjoys an excellent international reputation thanks to his extensive work, especially in the fields of multimedia and microtonality, as well as his global network.
Seven students are currently taking part in the MMM Master's degree course under his direction, an internationally and gender-balanced group: Jan Wegmann, Tsz Him Cheung, Rico Zinn, Taizhi Shao, Dong Zhon, Luong Hue Tsinh and Stefan Troschka. In addition, there are doctoral students, guest students and students from other departments who also attend the MMM seminars, as well as students from the New Composition Techniques contact course, in which three other European music academies take part in addition to the HfMT. "If you add it all up, you could speak of a large multimedia family that has come together here in Hamburg," says Georg Hajdu happily. "The interest in the Master's course is partly due to Hamburg's increased appeal as a city of music. It is also pleasing that many former students have settled in Hamburg, so that contacts are maintained."

The degree course is characterized by a cooperative approach
The selection criteria for admission to the Master's course are as demanding as they are varied. In addition to a multiple-choice test, applicants must submit an essay on a topic they have developed. One requirement is a good to very good command of English, as classes are taught exclusively in this language. "Ultimately, however, the personal interview is decisive. For me, the artistic personality must be recognizable, the creative potential to develop projects independently and the ability to reflect on art." Those who clear this hurdle can expect excellent career prospects, be it in the concert, theater or media business, in addition to a broadly diversified course of study in terms of content and subject matter. "Our graduates must be able to make an artistic contribution that also includes the technical environment and realization. They should also have achieved a high degree of independence, for example in order to establish a professional foothold with project applications." The experience already gained with the MMM alumni underlines Hajdu's optimistic career forecast. "Many have completed their doctorates and are working as lecturers or professors in academic fields, and some have even achieved international renown." What is particularly important to Georg Hajdu is the networking between the students. "Even the degree course is characterized by cooperative thinking. There are many joint activities, not only in the seminars, but also in self-initiated weekend projects."

Project receives 7.5 million euros in funding
Incidentally, the possibilities for future joint projects have expanded significantly in the recent past. Georg Hajdu and his assistant Jacob Sello were awarded an impressive 7.5 million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for their jointly developed project Stage_ 2.0 Alsterphilharmonie as part of the nationwide Innovative University funding competition. "One third of the money will go towards upgrading the Forum with state-of-the-art sound and lighting technology, while there are already numerous exciting projects for the remaining two thirds." These range from a multimedia spectacle in the St. Pauli-Elbtunnel with over 200 musicians to the development of special clarinets and support for the Center for Microtonal Music and Multimedia (ZM4), which was founded at the HfMT in 2012. The increased budget also made it possible to set up an independent new center for transfer projects of the department in Heimhuder Straße. Other recipients of the funding at the HfMT are musicology, elementary music pedagogy (EMP) and school music. "If you take all this together with the opportunity to do a doctorate, you can say that our university has a unique selling point in the field of multimedia. That makes me a little proud."
Source: HfMT university newspaper "zwoelf" No. 22
Text: Dieter Hellfeuer
Photo: Christina Körte