Department of String Instruments and Harp
The Department of String Instruments and Harp is able to look back on some exceptionally successful work over the past few years. As part of this, the Department of String Instruments and Harp is closely connected to education at the centre for gifted pupils, the Music High School Schloss Belvedere.
In terms of orchestral education, students and graduates regularly obtain top-class permanent positions, including roles with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden and many radio orchestras and opera orchestras in musical cities.
Graduates of the Department of String Instruments and Harp have taken up an array of positions as concertmasters, soloists and section principals. Education in solo-playing, chamber music and pedagogy represent further central pillars of the department.
Students often receive, and have received in the past, prizes at major competitions, including the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, ARD and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, appearing time and again as soloists with renowned orchestras. Pupils of the Music Grammar School ‘Schloss Belvedere’ are frequently victorious at the relevant junior competitions.
Alumni of the Department of String Instruments and Harp and the Music High School "Schloss Belvedere" are also active in highly renowned chamber music ensembles, such as the Armida Quartet, the Esmé Quartet and the Klenke Quartet.
Several graduates of the department have already taken up professorships or are working as lecturers at universities of music, both within Germany and abroad. A number of graduates from the pedagogical courses have taken up permanent positions at music schools, looking after very young rising musical talents.
The spirit of collegiality, which is traditionally very strong, is of central importance in our department. The joint chamber music and chamber orchestra projects between students and teachers, which take place time and again, bear testimony to this.