On 12 December 2017, a concert of scholarship recipients at the mdw’s Penzing location saw the rehearsal stage [Probebühne] renamed “Anny Felbermayer Probebühne”. Its namesake, Anna Maria Felbermayer-Szekely (1924–2014), was a lyric soprano active across the genres of Lied, oratorio, and opera. Following graduation from her studies in piano and voice at the mdw in 1949), she won first prizes at competitions in Vienna, Geneva, and Verviers. Before long, she was performing as a Vienna State Opera ensemble member while also accepting engagements at La Scala in Milan, the Brussels Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Salzburg Festival. She worked with numerous important conductors including Clemens Krauss, Herbert von Karajan, and Erich Kleiber.
Felbermayer named various institutions working in the public interest as beneficiaries in her will—above all the mdw, which she chose as her principal heir. The mdw used the monies thus received to endow the “Anny Felbermayer-Fonds” for the support of talented students. The scholarships supported by this fund benefit gifted instrumental and vocal performance majors at the mdw as well as students of the university’s preparatory programmes. On 21 June 2017, an audition was held at which the jury chose the current nine scholarship recipients. It was these students who presented a diverse musical programme on 12 December to mark this hall’s dedication.
