As an artist researcher, Jessica Kaiser investigates and reimagines musical practice through the interplay of artistic-epistemic experimentation and scholarly inquiry. She seeks to understand music not only as an art form but as a socially engaged practice – sensuous, discursive, and transformative.
Questions that guide her research are:
How can music enable new forms of knowledge?
And how can musical practice today be conceived and shaped as relevant, accessible, and future-oriented?
A key focus for Jessica is chamber music: as a space of resonance for collective creativity, as a site of shared responsibility, and as a model for social and aesthetic negotiation processes. In 2025, she is leading a postdoctoral research project and teaching at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar. The project explores the ethical and utopian potential of chamber music practice, particularly in relation to societal transformation. Her aim is to artistically unfold social utopias: together with violinist Johanna Ruppert and accordionist Goran Stevanovic, she musically imagines and explores collective, artistic visions of new forms of togetherness.
In her artistic-scientific doctorate (Dr. artium), completed in 2023 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, she examined ensemble interplay as an expression of complex interpersonal relationships and intersubjectivity, with a special focus on musical empathy and embodiment. This research gave rise to the Encounters Project, a collaboration with violinist Johanna Ruppert and dancer/researcher Liz Waterhouse.
Artistic Research Activities
– 2025 – Postdoctoral Fellow & Lecturer, Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar
– 2024 – Guest Professor, Institute Katarina Gurska (IKG) for Artistic Research, Spain
– 2023 – Dr. artium Dissertation, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
– 2019–2024 – Artistic Research Assistant, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
– 2022–2023 – Executive Board Consultant, Society for Artistic Research (SAR)
– 2023 / 2025 – Presenter, European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM)
– 2022 – Presenter, Performance Studies Network (PSN) Conference
– 2020–2021 – Main Organizer, SONify! Festival for Music and Artistic Research
– 2019 – Artistic Research Residency, Adishakti Laboratory, Tamil Nadu, India (with baseCollective)
– 2019 – Best Practice Award, ARTikulationen Symposium, Graz
Performances, International Recognition & Collaborations
Performances, lectures, and residencies have taken her to festivals and symposia throughout Europe, as well as to South America and Asia. In addition to her chamber music focus, she has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in renowned concert halls worldwide – from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residence to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and the Philharmonic Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. Further highlights include performances at prominent festivals such as Beethovenfest Bonn, Bodenseefestival, Mozartfest Augsburg, Gezeitenkonzerte Ostfriesland, steirischerherbst Graz, and the Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara Monteleón, as well as collaborations with Orchester im Treppenhaus and Schallfeld Ensemble.
Jessica received various international prizes and grants, among others:
– 2017 – Special Prize, Budapest International Guitar Competition
– 2011 – 2nd Prize, Andrés Segovia Competition, Velbert
– 2009 – 1st Prize, Anna Amalia Competition, Weimar
– 2016 – Advancement Award for the Arts, City of Augsburg
– 2016–2017 – DAAD Scholarship
– 2015 – Grant, Neue Liszt Stiftung Weimar
– 2010 – Grant, Rotary Club
– 2010–2015 – Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation Fellowship
She is also part of two longstanding and successful duo projects:
Founded in 2006, the critically acclaimed KAISER SCHMIDT Guitar Duo (with Jakob Schmidt) released their debut CD with AureaVox in 2017. They have been awarded numerous First, Second and Special Prizes at international competitions, e.g. in Stuttgart (2010) and Schweinfurt (2014).
Together with violinist Johanna Ruppert, Jessica is regularly performing as Duo Karuna. Since their debut in 2016, concerts have led them all across Europe. They were awarded the 1st prize at the North International Music Competition (2018), 3rd prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Braga, Portugal, as well as the 3rd prize at the 14th International Enrico Mercatali Competition in Gorizia, Italy (2017).
Endorsements
Jessica is a D'Addario Artist since 2018.
