Junghanss first international conservatoire director in the Netherlands

As from September 2017, Joachim Junghanss will be the new director of Conservatorium Maastricht and succeed Jan Rademakers, who is retiring this summer. Junghanss is the first conservatoire director in the Netherlands who has a background in both classical music and jazz, and is from another country, a combination which is unique in the world of Dutch conservatoires.

Joachim about his appointment: Being a musician and teacher but also a manager, I find working for a conservatoire most fulfilling and I feel humbled to have been given many opportunities to work in these roles. I truly believe in the great value and the future of conservatoire music education. I was very pleased to meet and interact with staff, students and administration of Conservatorium Maastricht. Now I am absolutely excited to continue my leadership at this Conservatorium!
Joachim Junghanss (Germany, 1978) has experience as a musician and educator as well as a manager and administrator.

As a jazz pianist and composer he has collaborated with jazz legends like Dave Liebman, as an educator he has taught at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. As a manager he has worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting group in Berlin, where he founded the firm’s arts and culture core team, focusing on the administration of cultural institutions. In 2015, Junghanss was appointed Dean and later Chief Academic Officer of the True School of Music in Mumbai. A Fulbright grantee to the U.S., Junghanss holds both a Doctor of Musical Arts and a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree as a double major in classical and jazz performance at the conservatoire in Munich and graduated from the
 
Musikhochschule Leipzig, Germany, as Meisterschüler under Prof. Richie Beirach. With a passion for social activism and a belief in the power of music to transform lives, Mr Junghanss launched the social entrepreneurship project Music Works, in West Africa in 2010. 

Conservatorium Maastricht feels that Junghanss fits in seamlessly with its ambition. Leo Swinkels, Dean of the Arts Faculty Maastricht: 'With its international ambitions, Conservatorium Maastricht deserves an international director like Joachim. Joachim is ambitious,  highly active in a broad international scene (classical music and jazz) and he has extensive experience with the financial side of organisations like these. That combination is rare’.