Enrolled at the mdw since: the 2018/19 winter semester.

It’s human nature to set arbitrary points in time after which we envision everything being different. Decadal birthdays, graduation, or the ultimate classic: New Year’s.

Enrolled at the mdw since: October 2019, Programme of study: Music Therapy

It’s one of the impressions from that nursing home that I’ve never been able to forget: a 65-year-old daughter playing her 90-year-old mother—who was suffering from dementia—a few measures of Mozart on an old cassette player every afternoon.

Enrolled at the mdw since: 2018, Area(s) of study: Composition & Media Composition

If you’ve ever strolled through the commercial streets of Naples or Rome, you’re sure to have experienced it: that moment when, in the midst of unsuspectingly letting your gaze wander from one display window to the next, you suddenly notice this melody that’s covering it all like a blanket—one that’s vaguely familiar, though you can’t immediately put your finger on it.

Enrolled at the mdw since: October 2019; Programme of study: Orchestral Conducting

No orchestral post is surrounded by more myths than is that of the conductor. “Conductor” denotes more than just a profession. It is a symbol. It stands for authority, for the lone wolf, for the diva.

In the basement of my parents’ house, there’s an old wooden cabinet whose red paint has all flaked off. A look inside reveals all kinds of odds and ends stowed in its various compartments. Cans of paint, a toolbox, a stack of tiles that don’t match any of the rooms upstairs.

Enrolled at the mdw since: 2017 (preparatory programme)/2018 (degree programme); Area(s) of study: Media Composition and Applied Music, Electroacoustic Composition