Studying in London, New York, or Copenhagen from one’s base at the mdw: the Global Conservatoire opened its digital doors with a pilot course in the 2021 winter semester. The Manhattan School of Music (New York), the Royal College of Music (London), the Royal Danish Academy of Music (Copenhagen), and the mdw are cooperating in this multifaceted project in order to offer their music students a flexible online programme of courses with synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Students profit from being able to call up course content at any time and find opportunities in the live sessions for international networking.

Pouria Osanlou, an mdw student in violin performance, attended the “Music and Words” course with the Royal College of Music, in which students can improve their skills in talking and writing about music. Pouria comes from Tehran, Iran, is twenty-two years old, has been in Vienna since 2017, and since 2018 has been studying at the mdw. In addition to Persian, his native language, he also speaks fluent English and German. He spoke with the International Blog about his impressions of the Global Conservatoire.

What was your experience with the Global Conservatoire course “Music and Words”, with the Royal College of Music, and what did you learn from it?

I found the course to be very interesting and interactive. The influence of words on the music and how people deal with this was a new discovery for me in this course.

What motivated you to attend this course?

I was just interested in the idea of interacting with students from the world’s best universities. I find the Global Conservatoire to be a very innovative idea and think that one can experience and learn a great deal through it.

Will you be attending other courses of the Global Conservatoire?

I would like to do another course like this and will find out about the course offerings beforehand. I would advise other students to first look carefully at the course contents and only then decide on the appropriate course.

How was the interaction with the other participating students?

I found the interaction with the other students to be very interesting, and above all, it is impressive to gain an overview of the musical life and views of the other students.

What do you value about your studies at the mdw?

I appreciate the mdw a great deal and think it is unbelievably good and important that the university has a strong international character, in terms of its students as well as its teachers. You can interact with people from all over the world and from different cultures in a nice, pleasant environment and never stop learning. The friendships and encounters that grow out of this environment provide me with new and different perspectives and ideas, which, as I observe, also influences my playing.