Handing over the baton at the Karlsruhe University of Music
Prof. Hartmut Höll hands over to Prof. Dr. Matthias Wiegandt
As part of a ceremony marking the 51st anniversary of the Karlsruhe University of Music, the handover of the rector's office took place on 11 October 2022. The pianist and lied accompanist Hartmut Höll has led the Hochschule since 2007, and he will remain with the Hochschule's lied class. As rector, he now passed the baton to musicologist Matthias Wiegandt, who has taught at the institution since 2004. He is Professor of Music History and Musicology and has been Vice-Rector for Teaching, Student Affairs and Examinations since 2019. Matthias Wiegandt was elected by the Senate and the University Council with an overwhelming majority as the new Rector on 11 May 2022 and has been in office since 1 October.
As a musicologist, he has devoted himself to forgotten symphonies, among other things; film music is also one of his specialities. Accordingly, the musical framework of the ceremony was designed with little-known works by Philipp Scharwenka and Niels Wilhelm Gade, but also the Herman Hupfeld hit "As Time Goes By" from the film Casablanca. This song was also part of a chanson selection presented to him by Hartmut Höll's Lied class as a farewell to the rector.
In the speeches at the ceremony, Arne Braun, State Secretary of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, emphasised: "The Karlsruhe University of Music has developed very successfully over the last 50 years. Hartmut Höll is not only an outstanding pianist and song accompanist, but as Rector for many years he has played a significant role in this success. In addition, within the framework of the structural debate, he has made a decisive contribution to the further development of the music colleges in Baden-Württemberg with his comprehensive expertise and his commitment in the future conferences."
Looking back, the former Rector Hartmut Höll said: "I served our university gladly and with all my heart. And my request is: accompany the new rector, Prof. Dr. Matthias Wiegandt, with the same sympathy, with just as much personal trust, as I was able to experience from you during the 15 years of my rector responsibility."
The new rector, Prof. Dr. Matthias Wiegandt, looked ahead to the coming university years and affirmed the potential of music to turn to the beauty of life and the power of idealism, even in difficult times, in order to respond to it with its own possibilities and modes of expression, to bring forth sensations, feelings and, as a result, new thoughts from which confidence springs.
A few days after the new rector took office, the university senate also elected three new prorectors with a large majority: Prof. Dr. Mirjam Boggasch will in future represent the areas of networking, scholarship matters and the International Office, Prof. Nachum Erlich will be responsible for questions of artistic practice, and Prof. Dr. Peter Overbeck will devote himself to those tasks that concern the areas of teaching, studies and digital. According to the Rector, Prof. Dr. Matthias Wiegandt, the strength of this team lies not only in the abilities of the individual personalities, but above all in the bundling of their competences. Only in this way will it be possible to master the complex tasks of the Karlsruhe University of Music in the near future.