Simone Heilgendorff (born 1961 in

Opladen Opladen, now a district of Leverkusen, used to be the capital of the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis (Rhine-Wupper-District) until 1975. Opladen station is located northeast from Cologne on the railway to Wuppertal. It is also on the Autobahn A3. Populati ...

) is a German

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

violist The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the v ...

as well as

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

Life

Heilgendorff studied musicology, philosophy and psychology (Dr. phil. 1999, at the

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humboldt, ...

) and viola (Master of Music 1991,

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

) in Freiburg im Breisgau, Zurich, and in Berlin. In June 2019, she was

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

in musicology at the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (, ), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university in Salzburg, Salzburg municipality, Salzburg (federal state), Salzburg State, ...

. Since 1993, she has held positions at colleges and universities, including a university professorship in applied musicology at the

University of Klagenfurt The University of Klagenfurt ( or ''Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt'', AAU) is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the States of Austria, state of Carinthia. It has its campus in ...

from 2007 to 2013. From 2013 to 2016, she was head of the international research project "New Music Festivals as Agorai – Their Formation and Impact on Warsaw Autumn, , and Wien Modern after 1980", funded by the

Austrian Science Fund The Austrian Science Fund () is the most important Austrian funding organization for basic research. The FWF supports research in science, engineering, and the humanities through a large variety of grant programmes, prizes and by funding infrastru ...

(University of Salzburg). From autumn 2014 to autumn 2019, she was head of the programme area "ConTempOhr. Mediation of Contemporary Music" at the Focus on Science and Art of the University of Salzburg and the

Mozarteum University Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteum ...

. Heilgendorff teaches at the University of Salzburg (Department of Music and Dance Studies) and th
Universität der Künste Berlin (Sound Studies and Sound Art)
Heilgendorff is a violist and, together with her husband the cellist Claudius von Wrochem, she is a founding member and co-managing director of the Kairos Quartet, which specialises in contemporary (art) music and gives concerts and promotes contemporary music worldwide. As a musician, she is particularly interested in chamber music, the

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

and

Neue Musik Neue Musik (English ''new music'', French ''nouvelle musique'') is the collective term for a wealth of different currents in composed Western art music from around 1910 to the present. Its focus is on compositions of 20th century music. It is char ...

. She studied viola with Christoph Schiller, Enrique Santiago, Emil Cantor and Yizhak Schotten. She has been active in the development and realisation of musical programmes since 1983, not only in the Kairos Quartett, but also as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

and curator, especially of the series of concerts and workshops of the Campus Musick association, which took place in Klagenfurt from 2007 to 2012 in connection with the university, and of the numerous events between music and science, for which she is co-responsible at the already mentioned ConTempOhr programme area in Salzburg in autumn 2014. Her work focuses also on cultural and cultural-psychological contexts of music, on Americana around

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

, on musical analysis as well as musical performance practice respectively. Increasingly, artistic-scientific research is also becoming relevant to her work.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heilgendorff, Simone German women musicologists 20th-century German musicologists German classical violists German women violists German women violinists German curators German women curators German dramaturges Academic staff of the University of Klagenfurt 1961 births Living people People from Leverkusen