MA Specialised Performance | Open Creation

Basel Academy of Music

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With multiple artistic profiles in the unique environment of sonic space basel: here, composition, contemporary performance, open creation, audio design and new music theory are strategically pooled. Collaborations with the beacons of the international new music scene in the context of more than 50 public performances each year guarantee innovation, artistic excellence and a high level of networking opportunities. The work structure is modular, diverse and collaborative.

Factsheet

Degree: Master of Arts FHNW in Spezialisierter Musikalischer Performance, Studienrichtung Open Creation
Study mode: Full-time
Learning mode: Onsite
ECTS credits: 120
Duration: 4 semesters
Stay abroad: Possible
Application fee: 200 CHF
Semester fee: 750 CHF (CH) | 1000 CHF (EU/EFTA) | 1250 CHF (Not-EU/Not-EFTA)

At a glance

Four main subject areas: improvisation, composition, contemporary performance and open art formats
A master’s degree for creative students who want to position themselves in more than just one discipline
Highly individualised curricula

Why study this?

The Open Creation Major thoroughly prepares students for a career in analogue, digital and media music creation and performance. It equips them with the design, technical and logistical skills to pursue, reflect on, market and professionally document their own artistic projects. One-on-one classes with our globally connected teaching staff from a wide range of creative backgrounds and artistic disciplines offer students a broad-based learning experience which is free from aesthetic bias and centred around collaboration. The Open Creation Major graduates leave with a ready-made network of contacts, including sonic space basel's national and international project partners, which will give them a valuable head start in their transition from college life to the professional world.

The Open Creation Major prepares students for a career in analogue/digital and media music creation and performance which transcend geographical, stylistic and aesthetic boundaries. It equips them with the skills and knowledge they need to carve out a distinctive place within the analogue and/or digital music industry as highly professional and original creative performers, transnational artists, curators or festival organisers.

The Open Creation Major in the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance is aimed at student creatives who hold at least a Bachelor's degree (or similar qualification) in instrumental or vocal performance, composition, improvisation, audio design (or related electronic music studies), performance art, or another related field.

Study variant available

The combined master's programme – creative artistic focus and education in music pedagogy

MA Music Pedagogy | instrument/voice | Open Creation

Performance Open Creation @Schlusskonzert sonic space basel (2025)
Robin Michel: Disappear (2023)
Ignat Khlobystin: Friendship Suite for Five Improvisers

Structure and programme contents

The concept behind this master's programme is to provide creative students who do not want to limit themselves to just one artistic discipline (keyword: composer-performer-improviser) with a platform within which they can substantially design and configure their individual curriculum in line with their artistic intentions. Thanks to the high degree of modularisation of the programme, the four main subject areas of improvisation, composition, contemporary performance and open art formats (electronics, media composition, sound art, open performance, installation, sonic art, etc.) can be combined individually and flexibly over the four semesters in collaboration with our tutors. This enables a very open-ended master's programme in which independent and collaborative work and artistic practice are of paramount importance.

The core curriculum is divided into three parts:

Major A:
Improvisation, composition, contemporary performance or open art formats*
Major B:
Improvisation, composition, contemporary performance or open art formats*
Semester project/Master's project

Successful applicants choose their Major A subject as well as their lead tutor in consultation with the Master's programme director. It should be noted that students may not change this choice at any point during their studies. In contrast, they can switch from one Major B subject to another every semester; the chosen Major B subject must not be the same as the student's Major A subject. Teaching is provided by lecturers from sonic space basel and the FHNW School of Art and Design.
Each semester, students must develop and complete an approximately 25-minute, original project for public presentation (a project budget will be provided). In the final semester, students will present their 45-minute Master's project.

Subjects such as context, practice, reflection and communication are taught within the complementary part of the Open Creation Major. Students can choose from an extensive range of electives, which allow them not only to build on their knowledge and skills in their preferred areas of specialisation and applications, but also to supplement the core content of their studies.

* = Electronics, media composition, sound art, sonic arts, open performance, sonic installation, etc.

Specials

Eduard Brunner Composition Prize: Every year, one of our students is awarded a composition prize worth CHF 5,000 as part of an internal sonic space basel competition.
Annual artistic cooperation with a college/university outside Switzerland

Modules and Regelements

The BA and MA degree programmes at the Basel Academy of Music are based on modules.

The legally binding structure provides an initial guide to the content and weighting of the subjects on the degree programme.
The detailed content and modalities of the individual subjects can be found in the module descriptions.
The study regulations come into force together with the study and examination regulations of the Basel Academy of Music FHNW and form the legal framework.

Structure

Module descriptions

Study Regulations

Lecturers

Requirements, admission, entrance exam

In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance programme with a Open Creation Major, applicants must be awarded at least a Bachelor with an instrumental/vocal/SoundArt/Composition/Improvisation/Audiodesign (or equivalent electronic Music Major) Major or an equivalent/related artistical study course as well as they have to have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places). Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time and have passed the first round of the entrance exam will be invited to play a live audition.
For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Study regulations of the Master of Arts FHNW in Specialised Music Performance.

We recommend having sufficient German language skills.

General Registration Procedure All about Studying in Basel