Testimonials

“There is no doubt that Anna Fortunova has a special pedagogical aptitude”.

In her seminars, which she conducted on her own responsibility (and partly in team teaching), Dr Fortunova has shown herself to be an extraordinarily committed teacher who understands how to motivate artistic students in particular to a high degree and to introduce them to issues of historical musicology. There is no doubt that she has a special pedagogical aptitude. Her seminars are in great demand and her teaching concept is highly regarded by the students. I was able to get a precise picture of the high quality of Dr. Fortunova’s teaching in a jointly organised seminar on music and literature in the summer semester of 2015.

Dr. Anna Fortunova’s working style is characterised by great reflexivity, independence, goal orientation, reliability and commitment in the communication of knowledge and research.

“Anna Fortunova is able to make well-founded and inspiring statements on both sides of the music coin”.

Dr. Anna Fortunova has been known to me for a long time through her academic-pedagogical collaboration at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. I have gained an unreservedly positive impression of her integrity as a person, her highly qualified academic work and the ethos of her professional approach. As a musicologist with a doctorate and many years of university research and teaching experience, and as a teacher of music theory, aural training and harmony, she is able to make well-founded and inspiring statements on both sides of the music coin. In doing so, she arrives at insights and judgements that are truly original.

From my own direct observation, but also from conversations with numerous students and in memory of spontaneous remarks by seminar participants, I know that Anna Fortunova is an unusually sympathetic and successful teacher, in whom empathy and competence form a very personal and extremely productive combination for the students.

“It was interesting and exciting!”

I was lucky to meet Anna Fortunova at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. Our individual lessons have always been a great joy for me. Not constrained by the rigid limits of one topic, as sometimes happens in lectures, the conversation could be carried away freely and touched upon in many different areas. It was interesting and exciting! At the same time, Anna Yevgenyevna always clearly outlined her main idea. She shared her deep understanding of the meaning and context of the musical composition. Anna Fortunova is a wonderful and rare teacher!

“In three intensive sessions she helped me find my way back to the source of my thoughts and encouraged me to think based on my own experience”.

As a music-loving philosophy student, I wrote my bachelor’s thesis on expression in music that cannot be put into words – and immersed myself in words and paradigms of theoretical philosophy to do so. Although the work was well assessed, in the end I felt I hadn’t quite hit my mark. So, I asked Anna to talk to me about remaining and further questions. In three intensive sessions she helped me find my way back to the source of my thoughts and encouraged me to think based on my own experience. Quite apart from the great factual support, Anna Fortunova’s warm nature and passion for the arts gave me a lot of pleasure in our conversations!

So, I can highly recommend her support not only for practical music making but also for music theory projects with a focus on artistic practice.

“Her friendly nature combined with professional knowledge and experience brings everyone who wants to develop their creative thinking to a new level of artistic thinking”.

Those who understand the content of art can also better understand life. This statement is formed from the teaching of certain tools, such as archetypes of art, which Dr. Fortunova teaches in a variety of ways in creative form. Her friendly nature combined with professional knowledge and experience brings everyone who wants to develop their creative thinking to a new level of artistic thinking.

“Thanks to Ms Fortunova and her approach, I see art not as a momentary pleasure, but as a way of shaping one’s life if one engages in understanding, feeling and integrating art into one’s life”.

Without going back to the past, I cannot say how meeting Ms Fortunova changed me and my understanding of art. Lost and desperate, I sat in the Music as a Message course in spring 2018 and had little idea what to expect. Whether it is Beethoven, Kandinsky or Akhmatova, thanks to Ms Fortunova I see art as a companion in the difficult struggle called life, a comforter in tears and an inner strength when the ground is lost beneath my feet. Thanks to Ms Fortunova and her approach, I see art not as a momentary pleasure, but as a way of shaping one’s life if one engages in understanding, feeling and integrating art into one’s life, as Ms Fortunova does.

“I can advise anyone who wants to learn more about the history of music in various genres, to learn to see and hear music deeper, and to understand more precisely”.

I met Anna Fortunova when she was conducting seminars at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. She immediately made the impression of a human-beeing in love with music, and later I only became stronger in this thought. This teacher is really infectious with her interest in her field, we all caught literally every word. I was all the more excited about the extra, individual lessons with Ms Fortunova in preparation for my musicology exam. Do I have to say that I finally passed the exam without any difficulty?

I can advise anyone who wants to get or expand their musical outlook to Ms Fortunova, to learn more about the history of music in various genres, to learn to see and hear music deeper, and to understand more precisely.

Thank you, Ms Fortunova!

“This professional coaching is very cordial. The stimulating and exciting exchange at eye level has always been a great pleasure for me”.

It is always possible to find meaning and expression in music or another art form. The ‘Stanislawsky System’, which we dealt with in the seminar of Dr. Anna Fortunova at the University of Leipzig, allows me to analyse and name the artistic truth, the dramaturgy, the archetypes of artistic thought, the spiritualisation and poetry, as well as the formal and content-related sides, using certain methods from every idea that expresses itself in an artistic way. It is therefore a matter of formulating and illustrating the essence that art is not only purely subjective but also objective. Ms Fortunova has familiarised me more deeply with this system beyond the seminar and I am very happy to know it even better now. From my point of view every person from any artistic direction should have heard about this system, know it and be able to apply it. This knowledge is not only very important for every artist, but also for every performer. As a student of musicology and as a musician I am very happy about the new and very valuable knowledge. They will positively influence my thinking and artistic work. In the weekly Skype appointments, individual topics and questions concerning music and art were discussed. This professional coaching is very cordial. The stimulating and exciting exchange at eye level has always been a great pleasure for me. I can therefore warmly recommend the one-on-one consultation with Ms Fortunova.

“I was able to come up with all kinds of questions and she encouraged me to keep on researching and to understand the works I was working on even more deeply”.

I am very grateful that Anna Fortunova has accompanied me in my studies of instrumental pedagogy as a musicology lecturer at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. The seminars were very sound and offered intensive opportunities for exchange. The small interactive moments in particular encouraged me to think for myself. Anna Fortunova had her ideas on how we could proceed, and yet there was room for her own thoughts. The individual support in preparing the presentations and also the housework was special and will always remain in my memory: I was able to come up with all kinds of questions and she encouraged me to keep on researching and to understand the works I was working on even more deeply.

Thank you very much for this!