• Harmonising Melodies and Memories: A Musical Journey Through Chile

    In November 2023, I embarked on a captivating concert tour coupled with enriching teaching engagements across the breathtaking landscapes of Chile. This musical journey led me through the vibrant cities of Santiago, La Serena, Concepcion, and Valparaiso, where I had the opportunity to perform with my ensemble, the AUREUM Saxophone Quartet, in diverse concert places,…

  • Broadening one’s musical and personal horizons

    “It was a dream for me as a composer to travel to Japan and see my piece performed there.” The mdw student Noëmi Haffner was the first young female composer to be nominated by the mdw to participate in the Kyoto International Music Students Festival. For more than thirty years, this renowned festival has offered…

  • Masterclass and Concert at the Music Academy Krakow

    Masterclass and Concert at the Music Academy Krakow

    The master class and concert at the Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie were very nice and enriching experiences. On the first evening, I played four of the five Beethoven cello sonatas (which we also performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus two weeks later) together with my colleague, cellist Matthias Gredler, in a more than…

  • Inclusion Through Eurhythmics, Music and Movement

    Inclusion Through Eurhythmics, Music and Movement

    After being involved in the three-year Erasmus+ project “Eurhythmics in Education and Artistic Practice” (EEAP) from 2020 to 2023, I was invited in January 2024 by my colleague Prof. Eva Nivbrant Wedin to return to the KMH – Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm to teach eurhythmics and music pedagogy students in the field of inclusion. The…

  • EUROPAFRICA: Bridging Cultures Through Music in Tunisia

    EUROPAFRICA: Bridging Cultures Through Music in Tunisia

    Nestled within the vibrant tapestry of North Africa lies Tunisia, a land steeped in history, culture, and the enchanting strains of music. In a narrative as captivating as the melodies that grace the country’s air, a cohort of exceptional musicians from the Motus Quartet, joined by the violinist Vasilisa Koroleva and accompanied by Prof. Fedor…

  • Harpist Elisabeth Plank teaching in Katowice

    Harpist Elisabeth Plank teaching in Katowice

    I was invited by Anna Scheller and Elżbieta Korelus to teach and perform at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland (19–21 January 2024); it was my first time to teach as part of the Erasmus+ scheme, and it couldn’t have been a better experience.As I had been to Katowice already twice before—performing…

  • Creative Dialogue 2023

    Creative Dialogue 2023

    This year, four composers, four kannel players, and six string players from various countries were invited to collaborate with the British composer Julian Anderson, the Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen, and the Finnish kannel player Eija Kankaanranta. The composers wrote pieces for strings and kannel, kokle, and kanklės (traditional instruments), and the instrumentalists played new compositions…

  • “I learnt how to LISTEN deeper”

    “I learnt how to LISTEN deeper”

    Ivan Tangkulung took part in the isa – International Summer Academy 2023 of the mdw. Ivan, born in 1994, studied composition at Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, from 2012 to 2015. After graduating he came back to his home country of Indonesia to work as a freelance composer. For the past few years he…

  • My Erasmus teaching period at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

    My Erasmus teaching period at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

    Dimitris Chandrakis, a professor at the University of Macedonia who studied violin in Vienna with Günter Pichler while I was a student as well, invited me for the second time to his home city of Thessaloniki. My reciprocal invitation to him to visit the mdw in 2020 unfortunately had to be cancelled due to Corona…

  • “The size and organisation of the mdw and the friendliness of everyone is very impressive”

    “The size and organisation of the mdw and the friendliness of everyone is very impressive”

    Marko Markanović has been studying guitar performance at the mdw since October 2023. It took a few attempts before everything fell into place. In 2018, he took the entrance examination for guitar performance and was faced with tough competition, with some forty applicants competing for a single spot. That time, it didn’t work out for…

  • Organ Prawang Carlson from Mahidol University, Thailand, about her research and teaching at the mdw

    Organ Prawang Carlson from Mahidol University, Thailand, about her research and teaching at the mdw

    Upon arrival, I met with my supervisor, Edith Lienbacher, and discussed our planned research. During the Easter break, I made use of this time to interview fifteen Thai singers who were educated in Austria and already have a career. Each interview took twenty-five minutes to over two hours, and most of the interviews took place…

  • From Australia to Berlin by way of New Zealand, Fiji, and India

    From Australia to Berlin by way of New Zealand, Fiji, and India

    Ivan Beaufils studies music education at the mdw and completed two successive study-abroad programmes in piano pedagogy: first at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Sydney, and then at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). In between, he still had time for extensive travel and another training course. In summer 2022, Ivan…

  • My teacher training with Erasmus+ at the HMDK Stuttgart

    My teacher training with Erasmus+ at the HMDK Stuttgart

    In November 2022, I attended the “European Piano Teachers Association” (EPTA) conference at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz. Among the conference’s many interesting events, the lecture “Pianos That Grow Your Hands”, by Ulrike Wohlwender, professor for piano pedagogy at Stuttgart’s State University of Music and the Performing Arts (HMDK), was especially thought-provoking for…

  • The mdw’s Markus Geiselhart and David Panzl visited the Music Department of Witwatersrand University

    The mdw’s Markus Geiselhart and David Panzl visited the Music Department of Witwatersrand University

    This five-day series of workshops, masterclasses, and music clinics was hosted by the Wits Music Department (University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg) as well as two associated and prominent South African music academies: the CAFCA School (The University of Pretoria, Mamelodi) and the Music Academy of Gauteng, founded by Dr Johnny Mekoa (Benoni). Clinics were hosted…

  • On a Fulbright scholarship at Bard College

    On a Fulbright scholarship at Bard College

    Thanks to a Fulbright scholarship, mdw graduate Dávid Kéringer was able to spend the 2022/2023 academic year at Bard College, in New York state.  He studied clarinet in the mdw’s Leonard Bernstein Department, graduating in autumn 2021. He spoke with the International Blog about his inspiring year at Bard College: “As a graduate student, I…

  • An Impressive Journey

    An Impressive Journey

    At the invitation of Prof. Danny Galyen, I spent ten days in April 2023 at the University of Northern Iowa as a lecturer and guest conductor. I flew to Iowa via Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, so I took advantage of this opportunity to attend a day of rehearsals of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Because I…

  • My teaching stay at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla-La Mancha in Albacete, Spain

    My teaching stay at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla-La Mancha in Albacete, Spain

    In April 2023, I taught for four days at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla-La Mancha (CSMCLM) in the city of Albacete, in south-eastern Spain. Raquel Violero Casero, who several years ago attended one of my masterclasses, is now professor for viola at the Conservatorio and invited me to give a masterclass there as…

  • Schnitzler’s “Anatol” in Tel Aviv

    Schnitzler’s “Anatol” in Tel Aviv

    “Theatre is therapy.” In the weeklong masterclass held by professor of stage directing Anna Maria Krassnigg in Tel Aviv, this maxim was confirmed many times over. In May 2023, the professor from the Max Reinhardt Seminar was invited by the Department of Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University to hold a master class for acting…

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