Part of the Heidelberger Frühling Festival
Under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson, and with the contribution of such prominent artists – and fellow song enthusiasts – as Hartmutt Höll, Graham Johnson, Ian Bostridge, Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Quasthoff and Wolfram Rieger, among others, the Academy transforms the German city of Heidelberg into an international meeting point for the Lied (classic song) every spring. Young singers from around the world converge to study the art of Lieder performance.
The 2023/2024 Heidelberg Lied Academy is comprised of four modules:
October 2023 – Module closed to the general public
January 2024 – Schubert Week at the Boulez Saal
March 2024 – Module closed to the general public
June 8-16, 2024 – Module included in the Liedfestival (more information forthcoming)
Information regarding future Lied Academy application details is typically available in early July on this website: https://www.heidelberger-fruehling.de/liedzentrum/liedakademie/
The Hampsong Foundation is not affiliated with the application process for the Lied Academy. Questions related to the application process should be directed at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival and/or the Heidelberg Lied Zentrium: [email protected]
Liedfestival 2023 | Rückblick (Retrospective)
The Heidelberg Lied Academy is now part of the "Liedfestival" every June.
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Fünf Tage lang vom 14. bis 18. Juni 2023 präsentierten 23 Konzerte an fünf Spielorten in Heidelberg die Vielfalt des Liedes: von klassischen Liederabenden in der Aula der Alten Universität Heidelberg über ein viertägiges Lied.LAB im Völkerkundemuseum von Nachwuchskünstler*innen und die Liedakademie mit ihrem Leiter Thomas Hampson bis hin zu Singer-Songwriter-Konzerten im Karlstorbahnhof.
Zu Gast waren Künstler*innen wie Samuel Hasselhorn, Julia Kleiter, Mikhail Timoshenko, Gerold Huber, Wallis Bird, Spark – die klassische Band und Carolin Widmann. Außerdem gehörte die Liedfestivalbühne vor allem jungen Nachwuchsstimmen wie Bella Adamova, Sophia Burgos, Kieran Carrel, Äneas Humm oder Laurence Kilsby sowie dem diesjährigen Jahrgang der Liedakademie. Sängerlegende Thomas Hampson hielt im Rahmen seiner Honorarprofessur an der Universität Heidelberg eine Vortragsreihe über das Lied auf Stift Neuburg.
Watch video from the Lied Academy
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Heidelberg Master Classes
(June 11-12, 2024)
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Heidelberg Master Classes
(June 12-13, 2022)
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Heidelberg Master Classes
(March 21-23, 2019)
video
Heidelberg Master Classes
(April 6-9, 2018)
video
Heidelberg Master Classes
(March 30-April 5, 2017)
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Heidelberg Master Class
(April 6, 2016)
video
Heidelberg Master Class
(March 29, 2015)
Lied Academy of the Heidelberger Frühling Festival & Pierre Boulez Saal (Berlin)
In more than 600 songs, Franz Schubert brought to musical life virtually all aspects of human emotions. His artistic adventurousness and his gift to focus thoughts “into limited but sharply defined contours,” as Franz Liszt said about his fellow composer, helped make the German word “lied” an untranslatable term. The world of Schubert (including selected works by some of his predecessors and contemporaries) are the focus of an entire week of concerts and workshops at the Pierre Boulez Saal, featuring both veteran and young artists brought together by curator Thomas Hampson. Select master classes and performances are broadcast live via Facebook every year. Young singers are from the Festival Akademie of the Heidelberger Frühling.
Schubert Week Master Classes in Berlin
About the Heidelberg Lied Academy
The Heidelberg Lied Academy is part of the annual Heidelberger Frühling Festival and the annual Liedfestival (June). Under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson, and with the contribution of such prominent artists – and fellow song enthusiasts – as Ian Bostridge, Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Quasthoff and Wolfram Rieger, the Academy transforms the German city into an international meeting point for the Lied (classic song). No city could make a more appropriate home for the Academy than Heidelberg, a place that epitomizes German Romanticism, the era that produced the greatest flowering of the art form.
Ranging well beyond the confines of the traditional master class, the Academy’s aim is to give young singers a variety of tools for well-informed text-based song interpretation. The credo of the Lied Academy, reflective of Hampson’s passionate belief in the uniquely expressive power of song, is that singers should tell stories, for only then can they really reach today’s audiences. Thus, in addition to attending daily classes, the selected visiting fellows attend an array of workshops and lectures on the interpretation of poetry and the mysterious ways it is set to music.
“The model, idealistically speaking, is Tanglewood – the kind of American festival campus atmosphere with educational events and performances. It’s an oasis of a two week seminar for young singers who need to regroup and gather together everything they need to get at the heart of what songs are all about. Why are they written? Why are songs cultural identifiers, regardless of the culture or epoch they come from? This informing process enlivens the technical process. I do the bulk of the teaching, but Thomas Quasthoff is splitting the duties with me this year. Lieder professor, and one of my long-time collaborators, pianist Wolfram Rieger, will be teaching during the second week of the Academy as well. We also have a series of lectures by some of the most important German literature experts who know about music history as well. My friend Jens Malte Fischer, well known in America for his Mahler biography, heads the lectures series, which we work on together. It’s all very exciting stuff – and lots of fun. This is a passion of mine and it is very important to me.” ~ Thomas Hampson
Please visit the websites listed below for more information.
