Simon Mack appointed Professor of Music Theory and Ear Training in Munich

A jazz pianist, Mack was previously a Senior Lecturer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg

Germany's Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (HMTM) has appointed the German music theorist and composer Simon Mack as its new Professor of Music Theory and Ear Training. Mack will step into the role from March 15, 2025.

Himself a graduate of HMTM, Mack studied jazz piano, theory, and pedagogy. He is the winner of the Maria Ladenburger Prize for Music, as well as the Jazz Promotion Prize of the city of Ingolstadt. Most recently, he has served as Senior Lecturer for Music Theory and Aural at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Mack is presently the pianist of Tangomania, an ensemble that comprises musicians from the Bavarian State Orchestra.

He is also a composer and wrote the music for the podcast The Real Bierkönig — which made it to #1 in the German podcast charts. Mack has received further commissions from the Heidelberger Frühling Liedzentrum and the Staatstheater Augsburg, and his classical arrangements of hit songs were performed in concerts by the Berliner Radio Choir, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the Schleswig-Holstein State Theatre.

Mack is a founding member of the group Musicians for a Better Life, which runs projects that harness music as a tool for social change in Germany, Romania, and Tanzania.