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A Long Journey for Extraordinary Impressions
Alen Pavlić studies saxophone pedagogy in the mdw’s bachelor’s programme in the ipop – Department of Popular Music. Together with mdw student Felix Loidl, he took part this summer in the International Big Band Workshop in Mongolia. This workshop was held for the fourth time, organised by the German musician and teacher Martin Zenker, who…
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Four days in Weimar at the 77th Annual Conference of the German Musicological Society 2025
From 6 to 9 October 2025, I took part in the 77th Annual Conference of the German Musicological Society (Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, GfM) at the University of Music Franz Liszt (HfM) Weimar together with the team from the Austrian Science Fund research project Musician Families: Constellations and Concepts. The trip was funded by the mdw’s…
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Erasmus+ Staff Mobility – My Stay at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam
From 4 to 7 November 2025, I visited the Conservatorium van Amsterdam as part of the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility programme. My first day began with a conversation with Raphaela Danksagmüller, head of the university’s Booking Agency and Lunch Concerts. This agency places students with event organisers all over Amsterdam—for performances in churches, museums, and concert…
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Between Mountains and Ideas: Reflections from the PEA Conference in Merano
The journey to Merano already felt like a prelude to the conference itself: first by train to Munich, then by Flixbus winding its way up and down narrow mountain roads, past steep gorges and picturesque villages. The rhythm of the curves and the sudden views of alpine valleys set the stage for what awaited me—a…
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Connecting Research, Dialogue, and People: Reflections on the AMPF Conference in Freiburg
From 23 to 26 September 2025, I had the privilege of attending the annual conference of the Arbeitskreis für Musikpädagogische Forschung und Praxis (AMPF) in Freiburg—an inspiring gathering that brought together around 190 music education scholars, mainly from Germany and Austria, with some contributions from other countries. Supported by the mdw International Mobility Funding for…
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New Orchestra Experiences Through the Sir Elton John Global Exchange Programme
Through the Sir Elton John Global Exchange Programme, the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London carries out international projects and student exchange programmes with selected partner institutions, including the mdw. As a generous supporter of the Royal Academy of Music, Sir Elton John sponsors the exchange programme that bears his name. The RAM students…
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Women’s Film History Scholars Connecting on Many Levels
From June 18th to 20th, the Doing Women’s Film and Television History Conference, organised by the Women’s Film and Television History Network-UK/Ireland took place for the seventh time. Three days of presentations, films, discussions, and dinner conversations at the University of Lincoln enriched my perspectives on current research methods and broadened my knowledge of a…
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Participation and Identity – a BIP Erasmus Programme in Northeastern Finland
From 30 May to 5 June 2025, I—along with ten mdw students of instrumental and vocal education and of music education—attended the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) Cultural and Social Well-Being – Identity and Participation at Savonia University of Applied Sciences in Kuopio, in northeastern Finland. There, we met Finnish, Lithuanian, and German students from these…
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“An Impetus for Learning Beyond One’s Own Research Topic”
A PhD short-term mobility took the three mdw students Caroline Gansterer-Heider, Constantin Luger, and Abigail Wagner to Cape Town, South Africa, for a week in March 2025. Their teacher Evelyn Annuß, Professor for Gender Studies, initiated the research trip. She and mdw teachers Isabel Frey and Philipp Hohmann held classes at the University of Cape…
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Impulses from the North
My Erasmus trip at the beginning of May took me to Copenhagen for two exciting and enlightening days—to a city that can scarcely be surpassed in its diversity, openness, and cultural vitality. Already upon my arrival on Sunday, 4 May, I was able gain an initial impression of the city. It was a special day:…
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“The Power of Music and Art Connects People from Different Places”
Noot Cohen, born in Tel Aviv in 2006, is in her second semester studying voice at the mdw. She was one of the recipients of the Artists Solidarity Program Europe scholarship from Austria’s Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. This scholarship programme is intended for artists whose work and existence are severely threatened by…
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“I have always been curious about working with various media”
“As a composer, creating something from my own perspective is the best way to work. Not reproducing something but rather expressing my own vision,” says the Ukrainian mdw student Vlada Lysenko. Vlada was granted the Artists Solidarity Program Europe scholarship from Austria’s Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs for this academic year. This scholarship…
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Music Therapy Work in Lviv, Ukraine
“I was impressed by how profoundly the patients were touched by the music,” says Olesia Vepryk, who as part of her Erasmus+ semester at the mdw attended music therapy sessions in a Vienna clinic. She now incorporates her collected knowledge and experience into her music therapy work as a psychologist in a hospital in Lviv,…
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A fantastic opportunity to present my work to a new academic audience
My “wunderbare” experience at Department of Music Acoustics – Wiener Klangstil (Institut für musikalische Akustik – Wiener Klangstil, henceforth “the Institut”) at the mdw took place in October 2024, when funding from the ERASMUS+ program gave me the opportunity to spend three weeks collaborating with David Weigl, a long-term colleague and co-author who I have…
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“Music is here for everyone”
The Colombian pianist Ana María Orduz-Espinal teaches at the University of Antioquia, in her hometown of Medellín, Colombia, and is the founder of the Pianissimo Foundation. This organisation has the mission of promoting wider access to piano studies and the career development of pianists in Colombia. In June 2024, Ana María completed an Erasmus+ Teaching…
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My Erasmus+ Teaching Period at the mdw
My Erasmus+ teaching period at the mdw is now several weeks in the past. In October 2024, I spent a week as a guest with the class of Professor Franz-Josef Hauser, who teaches classical piano and piano practicum in the mdw’s Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano in Music Education. We already knew each other through…
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Master’s Thesis in the Far North
For a master’s student studying music education, it is kind of difficult to study abroad, and the conditions for drawing up a learning agreement are challenging. However, there is the opportunity to go abroad as part of the master’s thesis, which I was able to do at the beginning of 2024. What follows is a…
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“Danube Sounds”: Musical encounters in Budapest and Bucharest
Our journey with the Danube Sounds* project took me, along with former and current mdw students, to the remarkable cities of Budapest and Bucharest. The first concert was held in Budapest, where I had the honour of performing alongside Pedro Minhava Reis (clarinet), an mdw alumnus, and Nicole Henter (flute), who is currently studying at…
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About Us
The mdw is internationally and globally networked, with students from over 70 nations and some 190 partner universities from every continent. This vibrant exchange benefits students, teachers, and administrative staff, who travel to our partner institutions or come to the mdw from there. In the International Blog, they share their varied experiences – and why it is so important as members of the mdw community to immerse oneself in the life of another university.
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Even those who do not travel can experience the internationality of the mdw, whether it is through participation in the digital exchange with other universities or through the varied backgrounds of the mdw students and teachers, who incorporate this into their daily activities at the mdw. The stories about personal and professional enrichment, new contacts, and unforgettable impressions can be enjoyed by readers in the International Blog.
Are you interested in sharing your story? Then write to Isabella Gaisbauer, Vice Rectorate for International Affairs and Art: gaisbauer@mdw.ac.at