Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin - honorary Professor 2011-2016

Bobby McFerrin was appointed honorary Professor at RAMA in connection with a masterclass at the Aarhus Vocal Festival on 7 May 2011. Here McFerrin performed together with the vocal ensemble The New Voxnorth conducted by RAMA professor Jim Daus Hjernøe.

Vocal artist Bobby McFerrin is unique in the world of music. His virtuoso voice spans an enormous tonal range, and he covers all musical genres with an immediately infectious musicality and a special ability for spontaneous improvisation. For several decades, he has been a great inspiration for singers, choirs, and choir conductors all over the world, not least in the field of pop/jazz choral singing.

“Pop/jazz choral singing is one of RAMA’s very special focus areas, with Denmark’s only professorship in the field. Precisely for this reason, it is a fantastic opportunity to be able to establish this collaboration with Bobby McFerrin. It is of crucial importance for the Academy to be able to add another world name to the list of honorary professors, and we are very proud that Bobby McFerrin will contribute to making RAMA even stronger in the field of pop/jazz choral singing”, principal Thomas Winther stated in connection with the appointment.

The agreement with McFerrin came about via the Academy’s professor of pop/jazz choral conducting, Jim Daus Hjernøe. In collaboration with McFerrin’s agency Original Artists, RAMA has created a brand new international master’s program in improvisation for vocal ensembles. The training certifies the participants to teach improvisation for vocal ensembles in the special style that McFerrin exemplifies.