When talking about performing music, the focus is usually set on an audible realization of sonic ideas within a physical space – a concert hall or performance location. However, this physical space has been extended by means of media in various ways on acoustic but also on visual levels, e.g. with the integration of audio recordings, video footage, and real-time implementation of audio-visual processing. With the developments in digital networks and the growing bandwidth for online-streaming, new possibilities opened up to extend concerts and performances to performers and listeners who are no longer necessarily physically present at the concert venue. And since the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic at the latest, complete musical performances in virtual space have become a new normal. But what do these new forms and formats mean for performing music and the music performed? What does change for composers, performers – and the audience? How does the very same performance change when being perceived in real, hybrid and virtual space? What does “presence” mean in these different settings?

The Department of Musicology of the Institute of Theatre Studies at Freie Universität Berlin is proud to announce a new Guest Professorship for New Music starting on Fall 2023. This position is funded by a generous endowment of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation amounted to 1.25 million euros over five years. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation announced the endowed Professorship throughout the German-speaking world and has now awarded it to the Freie Universität Berlin.