Hanns-Werner Heister, Prof. Dr. phil., received his university education in Musicology, German Studies, Indo-European Studies and Linguistic, in Tübingen, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin).  In 1977, he received his Dr. phil in Musicology at the Technische Universität Berlin, under the supervision of Carl Dahlhaus;  in 1993, he received his Habilitation from the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg; 1992-1998, he served as a Professor for Musical communication and History of Music at the Musikhochschule „Carl Maria von Weber“ in Dresden; 1998-2011, he served as a Professor for Musicology at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Furthermore, he worked as a freelancer for various radio stations, journals and newspapers and has been teaching at various Schools of Music and Arts, such as the Musikhochschule in Berlin, the Universität Hamburg, the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, at the Technische Universität Dresden and at the Universität Wien. He also was a Visiting Professor at  the Musikhochschule Weimar. He held seminars on musicology in Schools of different countries, such as the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, in Heredia, Costa Rica (in 2012), the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (in 2013), the Conservatorio „Arrigo Boito“, in Parma, Italy (in 2014), and at the Hochschule für Musik Saar, in Saarbrücken, Germany (in 2016). Author of different books in the field of music history and musicology, his research has been dealing with various topics, such as: methodology of musicology; aesthetics, sociology, history, and anthropology  of music; political, popular music, new music and jazz; music and musical culture in Nazism, resistance movement and exile. Further topics include: aesthetics and history of music theatre; media/technology and institutions of music culture; music analysis; fuzzy logic and cybernetics; and gardening.