As we open our new Department of Early Music, the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna can look back upon many years of successful work in this field. The attendant bundling of resources now allows us to expand our existing emphases on historically informed performance with new degree programmes. And to this end, the Department of Early Music’s teaching staff includes outstanding artists who are active worldwide and thus already in a position to offer students first-rate training, involvement in international discourses, and the best possible conditions for independent artistic development in close proximity to actual practice.
I eagerly look forward to seeing the Department of Early Music make visible and continue to develop artistic and scholarly excellence at the national and international levels.

Ulrike Sych, Rector