Anna Schürmer appointed Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Professor at Freie Universität Berlin

Born in 1980, Anna Schürmer is a scholar of music and media culture. Her work engages with a broad spectrum of contemporary music, including electronic music, sound art, and club culture. Her research brings together methods from traditional musicology with those of related disciplines such as sound studies, media studies, and gender and queer studies. Her areas of focus include questions of queerness in music and the role of artificial intelligence in the process of musical creation. Schürmer represents an innovative approach, giving the professorship a strong emphasis on current trends in contemporary music.

Over the next three years, Anna Schürmer will develop teaching and research projects at Freie Universität Berlin on key discourses in contemporary music. She will also initiate projects at the Department of Musicology in collaboration with other disciplines and actors in the field of contemporary music. “For me, the future of musicology lies in its ability to present itself as an interdisciplinary and internationally connected discipline,” says Anna Schürmer. “At the Institute for Theatre Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, and specifically in the master’s program Music, Sound, Performance, this perspective can be anchored in a particularly fitting way.”

Camilla Bork, head of the Department of Musicology at Freie Universität Berlin, adds: “With the help of the endowed professorship, we have in recent years succeeded in developing a distinct, contemporary research profile and in establishing the highly sought-after Master’s program Music, Sound, Performance, both nationally and internationally. This is by no means a given at a time of declining student numbers. We look forward to working with Anna Schürmer, whose networks and perspectives will provide new impulses. The foundation’s funding has made a significant contribution to turning the Department of Musicology at FU into a vibrant place of exchange on questions of music and sound practice, bringing together scholars and artists and engaging with society at large.”

On the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2023, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation established the endowed professorship for a period of five years, providing a total of €1.25 million. Miriam Akkermann, who had held the position since the summer semester of 2024, joined the faculty of Technische Universität Dortmund in April 2026.

Anna Schürmer’s inaugural lecture, titled ZUKUNFT(((s)))MUSIK, or: New Musicologies, will take place on June 16, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Institute for Theatre Studies (Grunewaldstraße 35, 12165 Berlin). Admission is free!