Top Performing Arts Schools in Germany

Germany has a number of thriving performing arts institutions with esteemed alumni working on Broadway, touring theatre, local theatre, TV and film! Below, BroadwayWorld rounds up the top performing arts schools in Germany. Check out the list below!

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College of Performing Arts

The College of Performing Arts is equipped with its own theatre and brings together training programmes in all art forms related to the theatre (except dance and directing): writing, design and performance. Uniting these study programmes in one college facilitates close, practice-oriented and project-based cooperation corresponds to the way theatres themselves function. Great emphasis is placed on giving students early opportunities to work independently. All study programmes present the results of their students' work in public performances at the College's venue UNI.T - the Theatre of the UdK Berlin.

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Hamburg University

Founded in 1950, HfMT University of Music and Theatre offers a variety of courses in and relating to the performing arts, ranging from classical training in disciplines such as singing and drama, to theatre direction and music teaching. Located on the Outer Alster lake, the HfMT provides students with the highest level of artistic education. HfMT boasts 83 classrooms, theatre, voice and dance studios, and a main concert venue which seats over 400 people. Furthermore, the university hosts hundreds of cultural events every year, making it one of the most prominent cultural institutions in Hamburg.

In 2005, the Theaterakademie was founded to teach singing, dramaturgy, opera and a range of other theatrical subjects. Housed separately from the university's main building on the Alster lake, the Theaterakademie has a range of courses, including directing for film and musical theatre. Students gain practical experience right from the start of their studies through performances and internships, and in a city as culturally rich as Hamburg, they are in the perfect environment to enhance their studies and artistic pursuits.

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LMU Munich

By studying Theatre Studies, students learn to use an academic approach to tackle the various forms of the phenomenon "theatre". Thus, this degree - like all other humanities degrees - does not offer vocational training for future actors, directors, script advisors, theatre critics etc. However, the degree imparts a variety of knowledge and experience which are indispensable for such careers. Interdisciplinary research and teaching is a matter of course for the employees of the institute.

With its many stages, from amateur theatre to the Kammerspiele München, the Residenztheater and the two opera houses, Bayerische Staatsoper and the Gärtnerplatz-Theater, not to mention the newspapers, publishing houses, film and television production companies, Munich offers a wealth of opportunities to apply the theoretical knowledge learned during the degree in a variety of ways within the framework of work experience and internships and thus to begin to make contacts which will be useful for the students' future careers.

Moreover, the institute has a studio theatre (Studiobühne TWM), in which drama projects and performance workshops are offered. Here the students have the opportunity to rehearse and perform their own projects.

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Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media

The Drama School of the renowned Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTMH) provides practical instruction in numerous well-equipped studios that include a theatre for 200 spectators. Students on this full-time, four-year programme learn how to act both on stage and in front of a camera and receive a grounding in the specific requirements of the broadcasting, film and television sectors and new media. Students are awarded a diploma.

Following a systematically structured process, courses progress from elementary skills to more complex aspects. The curriculum includes lessons on performing-arts theory, workshops with international performers and study trips to selected performances and important festivals. The academic year finishes with a symposium week which will be open to E:UTSA students. In recent years there has been an increased focus on students' individual "free" scenic work. There are also moves to establish international exchanges and work placements. Students take up Erasmus grants in England, Poland, Czech Republic, France and Greece and apply to take part in projects with young International Artists. The university collaborates with theatres in northern Germany (Hanover, Bremen, Braunschweig, Goettingen, Oldenburg, Hamburg), the federal broadcasting station NDR and the directors class of the Hamburg Theatre Academy. The department receives regular invitations to national and international festivals such as the Heidelberger Stueckemarkt, the Muehlheimer Theatertage and festivals in Brno, Brussels and Lodz. Awards: Marta Awards in Brno for: "Reading Maria Stuart", "Barbarian Paradise", "The Wardrobe"/Annual Contest of the Drama Schools of German-speaking Countries for "Twelfth Night", "Barbarian Paradise" and "To Moscow?!".

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