From 8 to 10 February 2022, the mdw bore witness to the 22nd edition of the International Competition of the Franz Josef Reinl Foundation.

With the final round of the 5th Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition, held from 1 to 4 February 2022, the Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano in Music Education manifested a strong signal of the mdw’s uninterrupted international presence despite the ongoing pandemic.

The international and interdisciplinary summer conference isaScience 2022 will take place from 31 August to 4 September 2022 both at Hotel Marienhof in Reichenau an der Rax and online. In keeping with this year’s motto of isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw, “ALWAYS ANEW”, this year features a number of changes.

An exhibition by the Exilarte Center for Banned Music at the mdw with a wide range of images, sheet music, and documents from Kreisler’s life as well as a simultaneously published catalogue will celebrate the ongoing Fritz Kreisler Memorial Year by highlighting aspects such as Kreisler’s family history, his period in Vienna, and his special knack for media relations.

For the 32nd time, isa will see the mdw bring together outstanding students and prominent musicians from all over the world in several history-steeped communities nestled amongst the Vienna Alps. The special combination of natural beauty and historico-cultural significance to be found in this region of southern Lower Austria provides the ideal backdrop for high-intensity artistic encounters.

Looking beyond the Catholic realm, such as with interreligious projects like the musical setting of the Diary of Anne Frank by James Whitbourn, is a major concern of this enthusiastic church musician and organist. She’s looking to address diversity and provide motivation for new and exciting projects.

At the 2022 Reichenau Festival, Christian Berkel will make his debut as a stage director with a production of Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening) involving Max Reinhardt Seminar students. A conversation on the existential life crisis of puberty, broken homes, and the power of theatre.

This rich collection of essays, many of them incubated in the forum of the annual isaScience conference of the mdw, is essential (and open-access) reading.