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Gender & Diversity Award 2026 presented

Gender & Diversity Award 2026 presented

9. June ’26

This is the third time that HMTM has presented the Gender & Diversity Award. For this edition, the eight-member jury decided to award two first prizes. They go to Francesca Berardi and Ophelia Flassig.

Francesca Berardi (Bachelors degree Piano (teaching) with Prof. Anna Buchberger, Musicology PhD with Prof. Dr. Dorothea Hofmann) is receiving the award for her interdisciplinary concert »Un’ultima cosa«. In it, she combines music, literature and art to tell the stories of three female artists: Dora Maar, Aloïse Corbaz and Annalisa Carmi. Inspired by the book »Un’ultima cosa« by the Italian journalist Concita De Gregorio, the project addresses violence against women, marginalisation, dependency and artistic self-empowerment.

Ophelia Flassig (Master Sound Art with Prof. Dr. Till Bovermann) receives the award for her project »Resonant Bodies«. Taking as her starting point the history of the HMTM’s main building on the Arcisstraße campus – a former NSDAP ceremonial building – she explores how totalitarian, patriarchal power structures are inscribed in architecture, including through sound. Using her sound suit, microphones and gestures, Ophelia Flassig makes walls, floors and the interior resonate. She samples the resulting noises and sounds live and plays them back into the room as a beat. As a female filter and visible protagonist, the artist thus stands in stark contrast to the passive gender role propagated at the time.

Both projects are scheduled to be performed on 17 November 2026 as part of the »Respect Day« organised by Munich’s art universities.

The Gender & Diversity Award, worth 500 euros, has been presented annually since 2024 to up to three projects. An internal jury at the HMTM (comprising lecturers from various departments, a member of the equality team, an external member and two students) assesses the submissions, which may include both coursework and dissertations as well as individual projects in the artistic, educational and academic fields. The Gender & Diversity Award will be awarded for the third time in the academic year 2025/2026. With the award the HMTM is strengthening and promoting their students’ artistic and academic engagement with the topics of gender and diversity. The competition is intended to encourage students to deal explicitly with the topic in the context of artistic and academic qualification work. In addition, the continuous development of gender and diversity-related research is also to be promoted in the artistic examination of the topics of gender, diversity and inclusion.

Jury (alphabetically)

Joseph Bastian (Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the »Münchner Symphoniker«)
Sophie Becker (Deputy Course Director for Directing)
Prof. Anna Buchberger (Professor of Piano and Teaching Methodology)
Laure Cazin (Student Vocal Studies)
Prof. Simon Mack (Professor of Music Theory and representative for Equality for Women in the Arts and Sciences)
Dr. Tobias Reichard (Director Ben-Haim Research Centre)
David Russo (Lecturer Contemporary and Classical Dance)
To Uyen Rose Hoang (Student Piano)