Anne Bierwirth is a German contralto, focused on concerts and recordings of sacred music, appearing internationally. Besides the standard repertoire such as Bach's Christmas Oratorio, she has explored rarely performed Baroque music such as Bach's St Mark Passion and Reinhard Keiser's Passion oratorio Der blutige und sterbende Christus.

The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in Essen in the Ruhr area, with additional facilities in Duisburg, Bochum, and Dortmund, and, since 2010, at the Zeche Zollverein, a World Heritage Site also in Essen. The Folkwang University is home to the international dance company Folkwang Tanz Studio (FTS). Founded as Folkwangschule, its name was Folkwang Hochschule from 1963 until 2009.