Reach higher, reach beyond.
Mentoring programme for pre- and postdocs at the mdw
(women, inter* and non-binary persons)

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The Mentees

Dr Carola Bebermeier studied Music, History and Educational Sciences for the teaching profession (Cologne University of Music and Dance, University of Cologne). Her dissertation on “Celeste Coltellini (1760-1828) – scenes in the life of a singer and painter” (Böhlau, 2015) was supervised by Professor Melanie Unseld (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg); she received scholarships from the University of Oldenburg, Mariann Steegmann-Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). From 2014/15, she was a research associate at the University of Oldenburg and, from 2016 to 2018, at the University of Cologne in the German Research Foundation (DFG) research project “Music prize competitions 1766-1870: A basic outline, database and bibliography, based on music periodicals” (Chair: Frank Hentschel). Since 2019, she has been at the mdw’s Department of Musicology and Interpretation Research (Chair: Melanie Unseld) with a habilitation project called “A World in a Room? Music Culture in North American Salons 1850-1950” within the “Musical Crossroads” project of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). “Music culture exchange between Europe and the USA 1800-1950”.
(Photo: Carola Bebermeier) More information.

 

Dr Maria Fuchs studied Musicology, Comparative Literature and Gender Studies at the University of Vienna and the Free University of Berlin. From 2012 to 2014, she held a doctoral fellowship from the University of Vienna and DAAD, with a study and research stay at the Department for Musicology and Media Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin. In 2015, she received her PhD at the University of Vienna with a thesis on the theory and practice of silent film music (Marburg: Schüren, 2017).
She has worked as a dramaturge and assistant in the field of music theatre and performance art at, among other venues, the HAU Berlin, Tanztage Berlin and Sophiensäle Berlin, and has produced radio works for e.g., “Klangkunst” and Deutschlandradio Kultur. From 2015 to 2020, she was a lecturer at the mdw – the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and, in 2021, at the UdK – Berlin University of the Arts. She has given numerous lectures in the US and Europe and is a reviewer for US and European journals as well as research institutions.
Since 2020, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Popular Culture and Music at the University of Freiburg, leading the FWF project “Soundscapes of ‘Heimat’: Mapping Musical Signatures in Heimatfilme and Bergfilme (1930-1970)”, which is also being conducted at the mdw as part of the Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship (J 4413).
(Photo: Carolina Frank) More information.

 

Dott.ssa mag. M° Elena Minetti studied Piano at the Conservatory of Siena (graduating in 2014 and 2019) and Musicology at the University of Bologna, with a focus on Music Pedagogy (BA 2014) and Music Philology (MA 2017). Since January 2018, she has been a research associate at the Justus Liebig University Giessen in the trinational D-A-CH research project Writing Music – Iconic, performative, operative, and material aspects in musical notation(s) as well as a PhD candidate in a binational programme (cotutelle de thèse) jointly run by the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and the University of Giessen. Thanks to the Marietta Blau Fellowship (OeAD), from July 2021, she will be able to conduct research at three institutions (Daphne Oram Collection at Goldsmiths, University of London; Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel; and International Music Institute Darmstadt) to optimise her dissertation: Visual Strategies of Writing Music: On Fixing Tape and Instrumental Sounds, 1948-1964.
(Photo: Eyeofthehours) More information.

 

Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà, PhD MSc completed her Bachelor studies in Industrial Technology Engineering (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona) in 2014; Erasmus exchange in Helsinki, where she studied ways to measure the motion of piano strings. . In 2015, Master's degree in Musical Acoustics in Paris (IRCAM and LAM), where she investigated the harp-harpist interaction. In 2016, Master's degree in Science Teaching. She is deeply interested in both music (musical background in piano, lyrical singing and choir conducting) and technology.
From 2016 to February 2021, she pursued her PhD studies within the project Transient Phenomena in Single-Reed Woodwind Instruments at the Department of Music Acoustics of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, where she investigated the acoustics and specific playing techniques of the clarinet and the saxophone. In 2019 she took part in a project on the analysis of the playability of upright pianos. Currently, she teaches music acoustics at IWK. 
(Photo: Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà) More information.

 

Katharina Pecher-Havers, PhD is a research associate in Music Education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Having studied Music Education and German Philology, she taught Music, German and Ethics at a high school in Vienna for 20 years.
She completed her PhD in Historical Musicology in 2018, with a dissertation on narratives of the Viennese zither culture of the late 19th century titled “Der Salon des Proletariats”.
(Photo: Katharina Pecher-Havers) More information.

 

Angelika Silberbauer studied Musicology, Composition and Music Theory. At the moment, she works as a university assistant at the Department of Musicology and Interpretation Research at the mdw – the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. In her dissertation, she shows the discursive strategies for the national localisation of Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) in the Europe of the 19th century, based on her operas. Since 2011, she has been the chairperson of the mdw’s Working Group on Equal Opportunities (AKG) and, since 2013, has taught at the mdw and the University of Vienna. As a musicologist, she has collaborated on several projects, including “A political history of Viennese opera 1869-1955”, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). (Photo: Angelika Silberbauer) More information.

 

Monika Smetana, PhD is a music therapist and university assistant (Senior Scientist) at the mdw’s Department of Music Therapy (currently on leave).
From 2016 to 2021, she was the Deputy Head of Department and the Deputy Head and Coordinator of the Music Therapy Research Centre Vienna (WZMF).
As of April 2021, deputy professorship in the master's program in music therapy at the University of Augsburg.
Her academic specialisations are: fundamental research into music therapy, with a special focus on the interactions between the therapeutic relationship and techniques; dialogue in accordance with the concept of the Vienna school of music therapy; music therapy case study research and the verbalisation of music therapy processes.
In an honorary capacity, she is a board member of the association “Viennese Institute for Music Therapy” (WIM) and a member of the editorial board of the specialist journal Musiktherapeutische Umschau (“Music therapy review”).
(Photo: Ruth Bruckner) More information.

 

Barbara Wolfram is currently completing her dissertation at the Film Academy Vienna/ mdw, where she is researching on-screen representations of gender and diversity in Austrian feature films as well as Cinematic Autosociobiographies (Artistic Research) in the PEEK project (FWF) “Confronting Realities. Working on Cinematic Autosociobiographies (start mid-2021), in which, due to her extensive artistic qualifications, she already holds a postdoc position.
She is also a theatre and film director, and co-founder and artistic director of the international theatre company .EVOLve (e.g., Volkstheater Wien, Schauspielhaus Wien). Her approach combines artistic and scientific perspectives; she is interested in collaborative, inclusive and transdisciplinary approaches to narrative development, biographical documentary forms and methods of research and artistic development, as well as quantitative research and methods in media and film studies, and evidence-based policy development (cultural and funding policies). Barbara podcasts on gender and diversity portrayal and representation (Ned wuascht - wir geh'n fisch'n) and is a political activist at KILL the TRAUERspiel, an initiative for more gender equality and diversity on Austrian stages. (Photo: Barbara Wolfram)  www.barbarawolfram.com / www.nedwuascht.com

 

Akiko Yamada was born in Japan, and studied Piano at Berlin University of the Arts and Concert Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (mdw). She is currently a team member in the research project “Mademoiselle Mozart” at the mdw’s Department of Musicology and Interpretation Research (IMI) and funded by Plattform Gender_mdw and Mariann Steegmann Foundation. At IMI, she is also writing her doctoral thesis on the subject of “The Piano as a Medium of Cultural Translation in Japan”. Her research is focused on musical phenomena in Japan and questions concerning cultural transfer, gender and biographics.
In 2021, the volume “Laute(r) Bilder. Musik in Manga, Comic & Co.” (“Loads of Loud Pictures. Music in manga, comics and co.”), co-edited by her and Melanie Unseld, is being published in the Jahrbuch Musik und Gender.
She has performed as a pianist in major concert houses (Wiener Musikverein, Suntory Hall in Tokyo). In addition to her career as a pianist, she also works as a cultural correspondent for Japanese media.
(Photo: amélie&s, 2019) More information.