Global Perspective
Prof. Dr. Matthias Lewy is the new professor of Transcultural Music Studies in Weimar
The Department of Musicology Weimar-Jena is pleased to announce the appointment of a new expert in the field: on 1 March 2025, Prof. Dr. Matthias Lewy will take up the Professorship of Musicology / Transcultural Music Studies at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar.
As successor to Prof. Dr. Tiago de Oliveira Pinto, the comparative musicologist and cultural and social anthropologist is thus also proposed as ‘UNESCO Chair on Transcultural Music Studies’.
‘Being appointed to a region with such a rich musical and cultural tradition is not only a great honour for me, but also a particular pleasure as a native of Saxony-Anhalt,’ says Prof. Dr. Lewy, who received his certificate of appointment from the hands of university president Prof. Anne-Kathrin Lindig on 12 December.
‘It is of central concern to me to combine the unique cultural conditions of Central Germany with a global perspective and to build bridges between different musical worlds in the process.’
A project particularly close to his heart is the continuation of the UNESCO Chair established by Prof. Dr. Tiago de Oliveira Pinto. ‘This flagship project enjoys a high level of recognition worldwide and represents a significant responsibility that I will take on with great dedication. I look forward to working with my colleagues at the university to develop innovative approaches in research and teaching and to bring international impulses to Weimar.’
‘We in the field of musicology are extremely pleased to have gained such a competent and broad-based personality in Mr Lewy, who will certainly have an impact on the entire university,’ emphasises the acting director of the Department of Musicology Weimar-Jena, Prof. Dr. Michael Klaper.
Born in Magdeburg in 1973, Matthias Lewy studied comparative musicology and cultural and social anthropology at the Free University of Berlin, graduating with a master's degree. He then went on to complete a diploma in cultural and media management at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin.
His professional career began in the 2000s, when he gained his first experience at Piranha Musik- und Verlags-AG and WOMEX (Worldwide Music Expo) in Berlin. He later worked as a freelance Arts Manager and research assistant at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
From 2005, research trips took him to Venezuela and northern Brazil, where he studied indigenous dance and singing rituals. This field research formed the basis for his doctorate at the Freie Universität Berlin. After successfully completing his doctorate, he continued his academic career as a postdoc and in 2015 accepted a professorship in ethnomusicology at the University of Brasília in Brazil.
In 2019, he moved to Switzerland, where he initially worked as a research associate at the Competence Center Music Education Research (CC MER) at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2023, he was appointed professor of research and teaching there. The following year, he successfully completed his habilitation at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar and received the venia legendi in musicology.
His main research interests include ecomusicology, sound ontologies in Amazonia, popular music of Latin America and the Caribbean, music and politics, and the global music industry, particularly the world music scene. He also works with ethnohistorical sources of music from ancient Mexico and with archiving issues in music research.
In addition to his scientific work, he is involved in the field of applied artistic-scientific music education. As a sound curator, he designs exhibitions in leading ethnographic museums, including the Grassi Museum Leipzig, the Humboldt Forum Berlin and the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève.
[12 December 2024]