Faculty of Theology Awards Honorary Distinctions

The Faculty of Theology of the University of Freiburg has recognized two individuals for their contributions to theological research and practice. The cathedral choral director and head of the cathedral choral school at Freiburg Cathedral, Boris Böhmann, has been made an honorary professor, and Kurt Kramer, an architect and campanologist and until 2008 the bell inspector of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, has been given an honorary doctorate.

Boris Böhmann has long years of experience in the field of choral direction and conducting and has also made great contributions to academic instruction at the Faculty of Theology.  The stylistic breadth of the works he has chosen to accompany church services and for secular concerts ranges from Johann Sebastian Bach to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Richard Wagner and Arthur Honegger. In doing this, Böhmann has shaped the Freiburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir and the Cathedral Choir to orchestral ensembles that are greatly respected far beyond Freiburg – for example at concerts at the “Elbphilharmonie” in Hamburg. The quality of his performances confirms that Böhmann is among the leading church musicians in Europe.

Campanologist Kurt Kramer has been nicknamed the “Pope of the Bells” or the “Glockenpapst,” and is considered to one of the most renowned bell specialists in the world. Kramer’s work with bells extends from highly differentiated technical knowledge, to artistic interpretation and performance techniques, to academic considerations and their presentation. He has raised public awareness of the significance of church bells through the spectacular casting of a bell on Freiburg’s Cathedral Square in 2008, the organization of European bell events, and concert performances with bells in single and many church towers. The topic scope of his academic thought ranges from the Christian liturgy, to the use of bells in classical music or by the band Pink Floyd or in China – bells country of origin. As a campanologist, he is a member of different groups, last but not least church institutions that represent a range of confessions.