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

Enrolled at the mdw since 2017, Programme of study: Master of Arts in Music Education for Voice and Instruments (IGP) – Piano

Perhaps we really can chalk it all up to the pandemic. After all, we’ve all still got those mantras in our ears. Keep your distance! Whatever you do, avoid getting too close to anyone! Meet nobody from outside your own household!

If there’s any one term that’s become more and more popular (and essential) among all of us in the media, recently, it’s this one: “the crisis”. It’s the uncontested leader in the buzzword charts, a constant guest on title pages, and a topic that’s omnipresent among new non-fiction releases. For it does, after all, provide a convenient way of explaining, labelling, and categorising any complex occurrence.

Enroled at the mdw since: 2011Programmes of study: IGP – Percussion (BA) and Cultural Institutions Studies (PhD programme); Instrumental Studies diploma in Percussion completed in July 2020

Virtually no other phrase bears within it as much condescension as does the oft-invoked call to “pick people up where they are”. Be it in the media, in politics, or in the cultural sphere, this metaphor has been flogged to a near-inflationary extent.

Benjamin Harasko, Preparatory Programme in Music Education – Voice; Voice (BA)