Management

Sophia Herber

Sophia Herber earned a master’s degree in German Studies, Art History, and Theater, Film, and Television Studies from the University of Cologne. Her master’s thesis focused on topographical readings of the novels and short stories by the Turkish-German author, actress, and director Emine Sevgi Özdamar (Georg Büchner Prize 2022). She subsequently served for several years as director of the kunst:dialoge project at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, where she trained numerous college and high school students in dialogic art education and organized art nights. She worked as a freelance museum educator for the Cologne Museum Service, opened art exhibitions, and wrote catalog essays for contemporary artists. While starting her career, she began private voice lessons and continued her vocal training with contralto Francisca Beaumont, who still coaches her today. As a mezzo-soprano/alto, she has performed in Cologne, Bonn, Berlin, Weimar, Leipzig, Potsdam, and Milan, and also appears as a soloist with ensembles of the Collegium musicum at the University of Cologne. 

She joined the Collegium musicum in 2008 alongside Michael Ostrzyga and has served as its executive director since the summer of 2011. In addition to program planning and organizing the UNIVERSITÄTSKONZERTE series, she is responsible for design and public relations. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she initiated the “Totentanz” project. In this role, she not only served as director and host but also taught herself how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, conceiving the project’s music videos and handling both the technical and artistic aspects of their editing.

She has also conceived and organized series such as “Musik im Museum” and the “ResonanzProjekt”—in which music is performed in various university spaces not typically designed for that purpose—as well as the “Große Sommernacht” at Wahn Castle during the Shakespeare Year of 2016. Occasionally, she also serves as a concert host and writes texts for the Collegium Musicum’s program booklets.
 

Contact
sophia.herber(at)uni-koeln.de
0221 - 470 90 981
 

Management

Wiebke Heyens

Wiebke Heyens studied Romance languages, musicology, and theater, film, and television studies at the University of Cologne, as well as a specialized program in German as a Foreign Language at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. As a research assistant in the Department of Romance Languages, she taught French literature with a focus on French film and Maghreb literature. She worked as an adjunct instructor for French and German as a Foreign Language at the Folkwang University of the Arts. Since the beginning of her studies, she has been a violinist in the university’s symphony orchestra, which led to her appointment as executive director of the Collegium musicum in 2013. In addition to concert organization and ensemble management, she is primarily responsible for budget administration. She volunteers for the independent transcultural music scene in Cologne and serves on the parent committees at her sons’ schools.
 

Contact
wiebke.heyens(at)uni-koeln.de
0221 - 470 90 982
 

Conductor of the Cologne Children's University Choir

Patricia Langenmantel

Patricia Langenmantel studied music education for high schools, church music, and children’s and youth choir conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the Cologne University of Music and Dance, the University of Music, Drama, and Media Hannover, and the Högskolan för scen och musik in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is an alumna of the Cusanuswerk, an episcopal scholarship program. Among her most influential teachers were Prof. Harald Feller and Prof. Mareile Krumbholz (organ), Prof. Martin Steidler (choral conducting), and Prof. Friederike Stahmer (children’s and youth choir conducting). A native of Bavaria, she discovered her passion for working with young voices at an early age. She gained crucial artistic experience by singing in renowned choirs such as the Madrigal Choir of the Munich University of Music, the Audi Youth Choir Academy, and the Chamber Choir of the Cologne University of Music, Theater, and Media (HfMT). She has directed and mentored various children’s and youth choirs and, among other roles, served as assistant to the Girls’ Choir at Cologne Cathedral from 2021 to 2023. Patricia Langenmantel currently serves as the pastoral musician at Brauweiler Abbey Church. Since 2025, she has been a lecturer in children’s and youth choir conducting in the archdiocesan C-level training program.​​​​​​​