From 6 to 9 October 2025, I took part in the 77th Annual Conference of the German Musicological Society (Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, GfM) at the University of Music Franz Liszt (HfM) Weimar together with the team from the Austrian Science Fund research project Musician Families: Constellations and Concepts. The trip was funded by the mdw’s Research Support Office as part of the International Mobility for Early-stage Researchers programme (ESR).

The conference began on Monday evening, 6 October, with an opening ceremony and a champagne reception. On Tuesday morning, Melanie Unseld, Felix Dieterle, Christine Fornoff-Petrowski, and I presented the research project Musician Families: Constellations and Concepts. Despite the presentation being early in the morning, it found quite some resonance. We were happy we were able to inspire some interesting conversations and make further connections with other researchers and research projects.

The following three days were filled with lectures, project presentations and lively (coffee-break) discussions. It was not always easy to choose which presentations to attend since the programme was so diverse, with several events happening at the same time. Between Monday and Thursday, I attended a total of twenty lectures, round-table discussions, and presentations, some of which provided valuable input for both the Musician Families project as well as for my own doctoral research. The supporting programme was also quite enjoyable, with various concerts taking place throughout the city. For instance, students at the HfM Weimar organised a concert at St. Jakob’s Church on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday evening, I attended the closing party with another concert, organised by the institute for Transcultural Music Studies at the HfM Weimar.

Being in Weimar, I also had to explore some of the city’s cultural highlights; after all, there is hardly a building or square without a plaque or statue commemorating famous poets and intellectuals who lived here. So, in addition to the conference programme, visits to Goethe’s residence and Schiller’s residence were on the agenda. These were especially interesting, since the Musician Families project also addresses questions regarding the representation of family life within the home.

Overall, the stay in Weimar and the participation in the 77th Annual Conference of the German Musicological Society not only allowed me to further my knowledge (both in terms of my personal research and in the context of the Musician Families project), but gave me the opportunity to network with international musicologists as well. I was also inspired by the cultural history of the city of Weimar. Many thanks to the mdw’s Research Support Office for making this stay possible!

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