Prof. Lea Letzel

Prof. Lea Letzel is an artist, director and pyrotechnician who develops interdisciplinary performative works at the intersection of sound, music, media art, dance and space. Her focus is on the concert format and exploring the conditions and conventions of performance situations. She studied applied theatre studies at Justus Liebig University in Giessen and media art at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Lea Letzel has participated in numerous international exhibitions and performances, including at Kunstinstituut Melly Rotterdam, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Philharmonie Duisburg, FrankfurtLAB, Acht Brücken Festival Cologne, Edith-Russ-Haus Oldenburg, PACT Zollverein Essen, Münchner Kammerspiele and Kaaitheater Brussels. She has received scholarships for her work, including from the Hessian Cultural Foundation in London, artist residencies at the Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa Kyoto and the Kulturensemble Palermo. From 2019 to 2022, she was a member of the ‘Junges Kolleg’ of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Since 2024, she has been pursuing a doctorate in the inter-university programme ‘Science & Art’ in Salzburg.

In her professorship for performance and new musical presentation forms at the HfK Bremen, Prof. Lea Letzel sees an important and encouraging signal for dialogue and community.

Prof. Lea Letzel: "It is long overdue for music and art colleges to view interdisciplinary projects not as exceptions, but as a natural part of education. In a time of massive social, political and ecological crises, in a time of devastating wars, universities are places where understanding across boundaries can be tested. They have a responsibility to create conditions under which art not only reacts, but develops new forms of community. 

I consider it an important and encouraging sign that the interdisciplinary professorship for performance and new musical presentation forms at the University of the Arts Bremen is addressing precisely this issue. My teaching concept is based on the conviction that musical and artistic innovation lies not only in the search for new sounds or playing techniques, but also in the examination of the performance itself: in the way we perceive music and performance, how space, light, body, time and audience interact with each other. In my artistic practice, place and music material are closely linked. The stage design is not just a backdrop or atmospheric enhancement, but an equal element of the performance. When developing new performance formats, the aim is not to visually exaggerate the music, but to create a listening situation that follows the logic of the music and at the same time opens up new spaces for resonance. 

My work operates at the intersection of visual arts, theatre, dance and music, and can perhaps best be described as performance art. At the same time, there is a network of different traditions, languages and understandings of what performance means. For me, these frictions are not an obstacle, but rather a necessary productive tension that allows me to artistically address the complexity of our world. I look forward to bringing this perspective to the HfK Bremen, to thinking further together with the students and, at the same time, to learning from their perspectives and questions."