Helmut Kirchmeyer, born in Düsseldorf in 1930. Studied musicology, German studies, philosophy and sociology in Cologne as well as law, criminology, psychology and church history in Cologne and Bonn. Studied music in Düsseldorf and Cologne (piano, composition, instrumentation). 1954 Doctorate at the University of Cologne, 1982 Habilitation in Music and Media Studies at the University of Düsseldorf. 1960-1982 worked at the Technical University of Aachen (musicology). 1961-1995 taught at the later Cologne University of Applied Sciences for Documentation. Since 1972 head of the Robert Schumann Conservatory, Robert Schumann Institute, Robert Schumann University Düsseldorf as director, dean, rector. Retired in 1995. Kirchmeyer is a corresponding member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig.