Austrian musicologist Gerold W. Gruber is the founder and head of the mdw’s exil.arte Centre. exil.arte functions as a point of contact and interface for research on as well as the reception, preservation, and presentation of works by Austrian composers, musicians, and music researchers who were deemed “degenerate” by the Third Reich.

Those who become professional actors necessarily end up developing a certain relationship with death.Romeo drinks poison and Juliet stabs herself with a dagger; Stella drinks poison and Fernando shoots himself; Woyzeck murders Marie in a fit of bloodlust with countless stabs of a knife; Ferdinand kills Luise and himself with poison...

We’ve all probably got some Beethoven clichés and images of Beethoven (and his head) kicking around in our own heads. But in this jubilee year of 2020, we’re aiming our gazes far beyond the usual notions of this famous Viennese-by-choice: Just who was this pianist, composer, artist, human being?

Six months from the screenplay’s initial words to completion of a four-part TV series: four Film Academy Vienna students took up this challenge and produced the series Prost Mortem – Die letzte Runde.

Shzr Ee Tan was a panellist in the discussion addressing the themes of human rights, equality, and anti-discrimination” held on 10 December 2019 at the mdw.

The mdw held its second-ever celebration of Human Rights Day on 10 December 2019 with a panel discussion addressing the themes of human rights, equality, and anti-discrimination.

2019 saw Patricia Nolz become the first woman to win the CARSA as a vocalist. It was the seventh awarding of this EUR 10,000 prize that helps support promising artists studying at the mdw as they start their professional careers.

On 29 November 2019, the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC) was formally and festively opened following a several-month conceptual phase.

Or: How do we THINK ABOUT BEETHOVEN when figuring out how to MEMORIALISE BEETHOVEN during this jubilee year?