“I love to compose and improvise, and for this, new impressions are particularly valuable,” says mdw student Felix Vermeirsch. In October 2024, the cellist and composer had the unique opportunity to gain inspiration through the mdw’s cooperative project with the Tunisian Hasdrubal Foundation. The foundation’s activities are aimed at cultural exchange between Europe and Tunisia. In its collaboration with the mdw and two other European partner universities—London’s Royal Academy of Music and the Conservatoire Paris—the focus was on promoting young musical talents from Tunisia and helping them network with their European counterparts. Each of the European universities sent student ensembles, accompanied by teachers, to Tunisia. Along with the Tunisian musicians, they spent a week attending lessons and masterclasses at the foundation’s resort in the Tunisian coastal city of Hammamet. The students from London, Paris, and Vienna gave their Tunisian colleagues lessons, and in return they received instruction in Oriental music. Felix used the opportunity to ask the Tunisian students many questions: “Oriental music is very complex and has a completely different background than the music we learn in Europe.” Felix had already had teaching experience through his private students. In the project week, he was tasked with teaching the youngest participant, a twelve-year-old Tunisian cellist. It was above all the passion of the Tunisian students that impressed him: “It was wonderful to see the great joy and motivation of the Tunisians. With all the pressure to achieve that is part of our studies in Europe, it reminds you of why you make music.”

After the students’ interaction with each other, they all had the opportunity to attend masterclasses with the accompanying teachers. Chamber music teacher Anaïs Tamisier from the mdw was one of them. In addition to their lessons and classes, the participants found time to explore the Medina, the walled town centre of Hammamet.

An impressive example of the successful partnership was the final concert at the hotel with invited guests. The Tunisian ensembles and those from London, Paris, and Vienna performed their pieces, and to conclude the programme, they all joined to form an orchestra. In the orchestral piece, there were improvised sections where the students entered into a musical dialogue with each other. “Before the concert we had some misgivings,” Felix recalls, “because improvising in the Oriental style is very difficult. But the concert had such an intense energy that we simply allowed ourselves to let loose, and it worked wonderfully.” The audience responded very enthusiastically to the students’ joyous playing.

For Felix, his stay in Tunisia was artistically very inspiring, as he plans to compose a work with Oriental influences:

Composing is very intuitive for me. Pieces emerge through improvisation. This is why it was exciting in Tunisia to improvise in a completely different style.

Felix began composing when he was only six years old. Music played an important role in his family, he says, and “music was a natural language for me. So it was also very natural for me as a child to sit down at the piano and just compose something.” At the age of twelve, the native Belgian began taking cello lessons. After musical training at the Kronberg Academy, in the German city of Kronberg im Taunus, and at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts, he came to Vienna in 2019 to study with István Várdai at the mdw. The 25-year-old would also like to stay in Vienna, because in addition to making music, composing, and teaching, he has also established himself as a videographer, producing film material for musicians. “As a musician” he explains, “I know exactly where you have to cut and how it should sound.”

Felix wants to keep in touch with the Tunisian artists. He would enjoy taking part in another international project, especially outside of Europe, and would recommend this to other mdw students as well: “It is incredibly inspiring to get to know other musical influences and also really enter into a dialogue—not merely to listen to a concert but also to specifically ask questions of people from other cultures. This enriches your knowledge and changes your worldview a bit.” This project has caused him to appreciate his musical career even more:

Spending your time with art and music and building your life on this is also a kind of privilege. The conversations I had with my Tunisian colleagues and their passion for music made this all the more clear.

The mdw’s partnership with the Hasdrubal Foundation will be continued. A guest performance by the Webern Symphony Orchestra in Tunisia is planned for spring 2025.

Impressions of Hammamet:

Text: Isabella Gaisbauer

Fotos: Anna Kühleitner