Master
Application documents and information for the Master's programme can be found in the course finder.
Creative Music Project
New jazz master's degree for project work and band leadership
Starting in the winter semester 2025/26, the Department of New Music and Jazz at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar will offer a master's degree with a new study program called “Creative Music Project,” which focuses on the creative and productive handling of initial ideas and the further development of these ideas in band projects.
It thus fills a gap for the numerous excellently trained instrumentalists who have focused very strongly on playing their instrument during their bachelor's degree in jazz. The new master's program focuses on project work, band leadership, and all related skills.
For the Master's program “Creative Music Project,” applicants present parts of their band or solo project in an aptitude test. As a rule, the student's band project is continued over a period of four semesters. Students who have presented themselves as soloists also develop their own ensemble project.
The projects can be supervised by different lecturers in all important areas (composition, arrangement, band concept, instrumental implementation, studio production, marketing, etc.). Here, the department benefits from its high density of creative teachers.
The teaching and supervision of band projects are designed to be flexible and individualized through the use of different teachers within the department. For example, an electric guitarist can also receive important input from the professor of jazz piano while working on the project.
The reorientation of the Department of New Music and Jazz, which is designed to promote stylistic openness and creative exchange between students and teachers, enables its master's students in particular to develop freely between jazz, new music, creative pop/rock/soul, world music, etc.
The master's degree concludes with a studio production, among other things. The university has several highly professional recording studios with a wide variety of excellent-sounding recording rooms, allowing each production to be optimally adapted to the sound and recording needs of the respective ensemble.
At the end of the program, there is a public final concert, which usually takes place as part of the department's festival at suitable concert venues in the Jena/Weimar/Erfurt area.
Prof. Jeff Cascaro (jazz vocals), Prof. Achim Kaufmann (jazz piano), Prof. Frank Möbus (electric guitar), Jörn Marcussen-Wulff (theory, arrangement, composition, and large ensemble), and visiting professor Prof. Christian Lillinger (drum set) currently teach in the jazz department at the Department of New Music and Jazz. Friedrich Störmer is assigned to the department as a sound engineer.
Appointment procedures are currently underway for the professorships in jazz drum set, jazz double bass/electric bass, and jazz ensemble/jazz composition. In addition, there are a number of adjunct lecturers.
Further information: www.hfm-weimar.de/jazz