In memory of Prof. Dr Christine Siegert
News from 08/06/2026
The State Institute for Music Research mourns the loss of the Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board, Prof. Dr Christine Siegert.
She passed away on 3 August 2026 at the age of 55 following a serious illness. Since October 2023, she had supported the work of the SIM with warmth, dedication and her characteristic blend of curiosity, precision and unwavering energy. We will miss her greatly.
Obituary: Prof. Dr Christine Siegert
It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to the Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board, Prof. Dr Christine Siegert, who passed away on 3 August 2026 at the age of 55 following a serious illness. This news has caused great consternation both within the academic community and here at the State Institute for Music Research.
Christine Siegert had been Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board since October 2023. With her passing, we have lost a dedicated Chair who advised the SIM with strategic wisdom, foresight and inspiration, and who supported the Institute energetically and with total commitment. As early as 2023, in an interview, she had already outlined valuable ideas for our institution.
After studying school music, musicology, Romance languages and philosophy at the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover and at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens, and completing a PhD on Luigi Cherubini, she initially worked as a research assistant at the Joseph HaydnInstitute in Cologne and an assistant professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, before becoming director of the Beethoven Archive Research Centre at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn in 2015. In addition to her prolific academic work and her role on the SIM’s Academic Advisory Board – and, initially, also on the General Advisory Board of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation – Christine Siegert was active in numerous other committees and associations, including as President of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Music Council and as a member of the Executive Committee of the German Music Council.
Some of us at SIM were also closely connected to her on a personal level. This makes her untimely death all the more painful. With her passing, we lose a passionate scholar, a loyal adviser and supporter, and a straightforward and highly esteemed individual. It is an immense loss; the void she leaves behind is enormous. On behalf of the SIM, I extend our deepest condolences to her family.
Rebecca Wolf on behalf of the State Institute for Music Research PK
Further links
- Is musicology a niche subject, Ms Siegert?
- Obituary for Prof. Dr Christine Siegert of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn
- Obituary by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Music Council