First Doctoral Projects for the Promotion of Early-Career Researchers at the Center for Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music
JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music is delighted by the multifaceted and innovative projects of the first student cohort in the newly accredited artistic doctoral program: Austrian cellist and composer Ursula Erhart-Schwertmann focuses on the artistic adaptation processes of female composers from the Strauss era. Brazilian-born bassist and composer Fabricio Fuentes Pereira works at the intersection of dream experience and jazz composition. The project of Serbian pianist Adem Mehmedović examines the transformation processes of traditional Sevdalinka songs in the context of contemporary performance techniques for solo piano.
"With this artistic doctorate, we open the path to the highest academic qualification for musicians in pop, rock, jazz, singer-songwriting, and media music production. Vienna’s position as a pioneer for music education that uniquely combines creative excellence, artistic freedom, and scientific reflection is further strengthened. We promote the artistic identity and development of today's music creators with particular sustainability."
— Marcus Ratka, Rector of the JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna
At the heart of the six-semester artistic doctoral program at JAM MUSIC LAB Private University is innovative artistic research, with a special focus on artistic practices in jazz and popular music. The aim of the doctoral program is to train early-career researchers for independent artistic research, incorporating current artistic developments and the latest international state of research.
Michael Kahr, Head of the Center for Artistic Research at JMLU, views the first doctoral projects in the context of the international trend towards the progressive establishment of Artistic Research:
"We have consistently driven forward JMLU's founding university vision for the development of artistic research in jazz and popular music. Through internationally acclaimed publications and conferences, we have created a visible representation for our field and established our research facility as an academic center of excellence. As early as 2019, the International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz was founded at JMLU, which was recently recognized by the Board of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) as a new Special Interest Group for Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music. We support the expansion of artistic research in and through highly socially relevant artistic practices and ensure their development as an innovative form of academic knowledge production in line with international standards. In addition, we are active—partly in leadership roles—in various field-relevant organizations, networks, and third-party funded projects, thereby offering our doctoral students a direct connection to the state-of-the-art of Artistic Research."
Questions regarding the orientation, curriculum, and application process will gladly be answered upon request at kahr@jammusiclab.com.
left to right: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Kahr, Rektor Univ.-Prof. Mag. Marcus Ratka, Prof. hc. Ursula Erhart-Schwertmann, Mag.a Gisela Hagmair (Forschungsservice), Adem Mehmedović, vice-rector Univ.-Prof. Mag. Richard Graf, Fabricio Fuentes Pereira, Jeff Levenson (Grammy-recognised Producer, Manager, Pädagogue and Journalist), vice-rector Univ.-Prof. Dr.in Monika Herzig
