Matthias Theodor Vogt

Biography

Matthias Theodor Vogt grew up in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He is a grandson of Theodor Spira (1881-1961), an anglicist in Königsberg, who was expelled from the university by the National Socialists on account of his political and religious beliefs and worked after the War in the Hessian government for reconciliation with Israel. Vogt is a nephew of Andreas Spira (1929-2004), a classical philologist from Mainz, a brother of Gregor Vogt-Spira (b. 1956), a latinist in Marburg, and a brother of Markus Vogt (b. 1962), Professor of Social Ethics in Munich.

Vogt studied violoncello under Nikolaus Uhlenhut at the Basel Music Academy and later under Atis Teichmanis at the Freiburg Conservatory of Music. He subsequently studied Theatrical Arts, Philosophy, German Studies and Musicology at various German and French Universities (Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, the New Sorbonne University, the Aix-Marseille University and the Technical University of Berlin). During his studentship in Munich, Vogt was a private secretary to Hans Lamm, President of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria. In 1983, he obtained the degree of Master of Arts under Klaus Lazarowicz and Susanne Vill. In 1988, he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) working under Carl Dahlhaus at the Technical University of Berlin, and in 2008 a post-doctoral qualification (Dr. habil.) at the University of Pécs. Among other functions, he has worked as an evaluator for the Volkswagen Foundation and for the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung). Since 1983, Vogt has been giving lectures in German, English, French and Italian, mainly in Europe, Japan and in the United States.

Between 1979 and 1985 Vogt wrote a number of articles on contemporary musical theatre and contemporary music for German and Austrian newspapers (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, Falter Wien). He also worked as a music correspondent for German (Sender Freies Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Saarländischer Rundfunk), Austrian (Österreichischer Rundfunk) and French broadcasting companies (Radio France Musique Paris).

From 1986 to 1989, Vogt was Director of the press department at the Bayreuth Festival, with responsibity for the programme booklets. Both before and after this period, he worked at the Salzburg Festival, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Venice Biennale, the Rousse State Opera, the Moscow Operetta, the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris and the Acquario Romano, Rome. He collaborated with Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen in the world premieres of Prometeo, Un Re in Ascolto and Samstag aus Licht.

Matthias Theodor Vogt is the "father" of the Saxonian law on cultural regions (Sächsisches Kulturraumgesetz), the first German law that obligates the state to provide financial support for local authorities developing and endorsing their cultural institutions and programmes. Subsequently, this law has been proposed as a model for the other federal states by the "Culture in Germany" commission of the German Bundestag. Vogt developed the overall blueprint of the law, and until 1995 contributed to its promulgation and implementation as the coordinator of Saxonian cultural regions. In November 1995, he was offered a post in the State Ministry of Science and Art by the Saxon premier, Kurt Biedenkopf, but declined.

In 1994, State Minister Hans Joachim Meyer and Matthias Theodor Vogt founded the Saxonian Institute of Cultural Infrastructure (Institut für kulturelle Infrastruktur Sachsen). Since then, Vogt has acted as its director. In 2014 the President of the Bundesrat of Germany, Norbert Lammert, acknowledged the Institute’s work over its first twenty years.

In 1997 Vogt was appointed Professor of cultural policy and cultural history in the Faculty of Management and Cultural Studies at Zittau/Görlitz University. In 2001-2005 he co-chaired a programme of studies at the Technical University, Dresden. Every summer semester in the early 2000s, Vogt held diverse guest professorships, from 2002 to 2010 at the Charles University in Prague, in 2003 at the University of Wrocław, in 2006 and 2014 at the University of Kobe, in 2009 at the University of Sannio, in 2012 at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and in 2013 and 2014 at the University of Vienna. Apart from these long-term obligations, Vogt taught at some 50 universities mainly in Europe, Japan and in the USA

In 1997, Vogt founded the course of study "Culture and Management" as a cooperative venture between the Saxonian Institute of Cultural Infrastructure and Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. Its patron Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO, said of the specific approach: "Mobilizing support for the arts has become an art in itself. It calls for individuals combining economic flair, a grasp of social legislation, familiarity with an increasingly diverse cultural scene, and an uncompromising commitment to meticulous organization." In 1998 the study programme was awarded a prize by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Research targeting the political praxis

Since 1990 Vogt has devoted himself to research into the cultural basis of transformation processes in Europe. He takes great interest in strengthening democratic potentials, not least beyond the metropolitan cities into the German and European peripheries, and in methodological aspects of cultural policy studies.

In 2016, he presented a research study on the cultural implications of migration: Ankommen in der deutschen Lebenswelt (Arrival in the German World). The study is based on previous research such as Minderheiten- und Fremdenfreundlichkeit am Wiederbeginn europäischer Staatlichkeit (Welcoming attitudes towards minorities and foreigners at the re-inception of European statehood), Der Fremde als Bereicherung (The Foreigner as Enrichment) and Minderheiten als Mehrwert (Minorities as Value Added) – all of these studies having been conducted in the framework of the tri-national Görlitz-Zgorzelec-Zhořelec Institute for Advanced Study, Collegium Pontes. In 2002-2009 the latter researched into the fundamental issues of social cohesion in Europe under the common patronage of the German, Polish and Czech Foreign Ministers.

Vogt has also studied the principal-agent potentials for strengthening regional public spirit in variously-sized cities, e.g. in large-sized Erlangen, in the medium-sized towns of Landsberg am Lech and Pforzheim, in small-sized Altötting and in rural communities such as Gundelsheim near Bamberg.

For the Bundestag’s "Culture in Germany" commission of inquiry, Vogt analysed the contribution made by churches and religious communities to cultural life in Germany.

In the field of minorities policy, he on various occasions researched into the Lusatian Sorbs and into the situation in the Caucasus.

Vogt is a co-editor of such periodicals as Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen / European Journal of Minority Studies EJM (Wien, Berlin), Rivista Interdisciplinare di Studi Europei / Review of Interdisciplinary Studies on Europe RISE (Neapel), Culture Management – Kulturmanagement – Zarządzanie Kulturą (trilingual) and Towarzystwo Doktorantów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego (both Kraków).

He has published some 400 books and articles as author, co-author, editor and co-editor

Political activity

Vogt is aligned with the social wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is regularly consulted by all German parties within the democratic spectrum.

Civil society

Awards

Selected publications