Practice reflections

 

The cultural mediation project "Cultural Village Terra Vecchia”

In the project "Cultural Village for Young People" in the Ticino mountain village of Terra Vecchia, the co-creation of various artistic disciplines, of professionals and non-professionals, and of people with and without refugee biographies are at the center during various process stages. Under the direction of music mediator Barbara Balba Weber, diverse teams have created a space in which young people can produce songs and thereby learn from each other - because songs need a story, lyrics, languages, rhythm, harmony, voice, movement and performance. And singing connects, infects, transmits messages, releases creative forces and brings people from different backgrounds together in a playful way. With a songbook created collectively in 2022, the "Storytellers of Terra Vecchia" want to convey messages of friendship, cohesion, acceptance and respect. The focus is on empathy towards the topics of migration and nature.
 

Barbara Balba Weber

Barbara Balba Weber is a musician, music mediator, lecturer and author in the field of artistic music mediation, new concert formats and cultural participation. As a trained soloist with years of stage experience, she has a profound knowledge as a musician and extensive knowledge about target group specifics and actors of classical and new music. She has created numerous productions for the stage - performances, commissioned works and her own music - many of them involving diverse social groups.
Barbara Balba Weber is head of Music in Context at the Bern University of the Arts, director of the intercultural project Kulturdorf für Junge in Terra Vecchia in the Centovalli/Ticino and author of specialist literature and essays.

 

 

Musethika

In 2012, the Musethica project was launched at the Zaragoza Conservatory, which has since developed into a highly active network with collaborations innumerous countries in Europe and in Israel. The organization's headquarters are in Berlin, and there are already independent associations and collaborations with educational institutions in numerous countries for the ever-growing project. The concept is compelling: young musicians need more professional performance training for their artistic development than their studies can provide, and there is a huge potential audience that, for a variety of reasons, does not have access to first-class live performances of classical music. So what could be more obvious than to combine these two needs? 
Musethica projects have been conducted regularly by mdw since as early as 2017, and since 2019 different variations of integrating Musethica as part oft he curriculum have been tested. In my presentation I describe the working methods of the involved actors and the importance and potential of Musethica for a contemporary education of musicians. In addition, I will discuss the artistic and ethical guidelines that underlie the project.
 

Johannes Meissl

Johannes Meissl is a professor of chamber music and has been Vice Rector for International Affairs and Art since October 2019. Prior to his appointment as vice rector, he headed the Joseph Haydn Department of Chamber Music, Early Music and Contemporary Music beginning in 2010 and also served as president of the mdw Senate from 2015 until September 2019. Furthermore, Meissl is artistic director of isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw.
Johannes Meissl studied at mdw with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Gerhart Hetzel, and Hatto Beyerle. 1982 saw him join the Artis Quartet (in which he continues to play). This quartet soon became a frequent guest of the world’s most important concert halls and festivals, and the numerous awards won by their approximately 40 recordings (such as the Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Echo, etc.) as well as the successful “Artis Series” at the Musikverein in Vienna (running since 1988) bear witness to their international standing. Alongside his quartet work, Meissl also performs in solo recitals and as part of numerous international chamber music projects.
Meissl shares artistic direction of ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy) with Hatto Beyerle, and he also gives master classes at numerous renowned schools and summer academies worldwide. Furthermore, he is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. And finally, recent years have seen Johannes Meissl achieve additional success as a conductor, as which he regularly works together with orchestras in Japan, Romania, Lithuania, Austria, and Finland.

 

 

Innovative concert formats and music education at Stegreif - The Improvising Symphony Orchestra

Since its founding, the Stegreif Orchester has distinguished itself through its forward-looking performance practice of classical music. In their lecture on participatory concert formats and music education approaches, Lorenz Blaumer, artistic director, and Immanuel de Gilde, project manager of #bechange, offer a comprehensive insight into the orchestra's current work. The concept of music mediation is used as an orchestra-immanent starting point for a detailed consideration of the educational workshop work with heterogeneous participants in the #bechange project, as well as the participatory concert formats in the most diverse performance spaces. Using current examples, Lorenz Blaumer and Immanuel de Gilde address the artistic conception, the realization, as well as problem formulations of their work.
 

Stegreif - The Improvising Symphony Orchestra

Stegreif - The Improvising Symphony Orchestra is a collective of 30 young musicians from all over the world, opening new ways to classical music for ourselves and the audience. With our recompositions of classical works we strive to broaden this cherished musical heritage by letting contemporary currents flow into our work. We perform without a conductor, chairs or sheet music, and use the freedom thus gained for improvisation and movement. Musical spontaneity and intensity in our performances offer the audience a unique, intimate concert experience. The audience is free to participate in shaping the space - the concert hall, the auditorium, the gallery: everything becomes a stage. The material of the classical pieces is enriched by the diverse artistic influences and backgrounds of our musicians. The result is a lively approach to making music together that brings it closer to the audience.