60 Jahre Institut für Volksmusikforschung und Ethnomusikologie der mdw
30. October 2025, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
mdw’s Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology is celebrating 60 years of research, artistic practice, teaching, and social engagement. On this occasion, we invite you to a symposium titled sound, move, transgress and an evening celebration. Bringing together researchers, performers, practitioners, and students, the symposium offers a reflection on six decades of departmental history, a poster forum with students’ research, an exploration of intersections between artistic performance, transmission, and research; a discussion of ethnomusicology's future directions amid current political turmoil; and a showcase of glimpses into the department’s audiovisual archive. The day will conclude with an evening celebration featuring musical performances, a keynote, and statements by members, students, and friends of the department, our disciplinary community and beyond.
The evening celebration at 19:30 will be live streamed via the mdwMediathek.
Program
9:45 – 10:00
Symposium Opening
Fanny Hensel-Saal
10:00 – 11:30 Session 1
Histories of mdw's Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology
Moderated by Ardian Ahmedaja
Marko Kölbl (mdw):
Folk Music and Folk Dance at the Reichshochschule. A Critical Prehistory of our Field at mdw
Ulrich Morgenstern (mdw):
Folk Music Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Past and Present
Ursula Hemetek (mdw):
Minority Studies as “Midwife” for the Emergence of Ethnomusicology at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break
12:00 – 13:00 Session 2
Poster Forum
Research Projects of Students of mdw’s Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:00 Session 3
Roundtable: Between Performance, Transmission, and Research
Moderated by Beatriz Herrera Corado
Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India), Muhammad Noramin Bin Mohamed Farid (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Silvia Bruinders (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Evelyn Fink-Mennel (Stella University College of Music, Austria)
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:00 Session 4
Panel Discussion: Ethnomusicology in Times of the Global Authoritarian Turn
Moderated by Isabel Frey
Shzr Ee Tan (Royal Holloway University London, UK), Mojca Piškor (Institute for Ethnology and Folkloristics Zagreb, Croatia), Thomas Nußbaumer (University Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria), Salah Ammo (Musician and Ethnomusicologist, Vienna, Austria)
18:15 – 19:15 Archive Showcase
Glimpses into 60 Years of the Archive of the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology at mdw
19:30 Festakt – Evening Celebration
Joseph Haydn-Saal
Congratulatory addresses
Keynote: Ana Hofman
Ethnomusicology and the Politics of Memory
Musical performances by students and former students of the Department
– Federspiel
– Salah Ammo
– Mira Perusich
– Alhân Ensemble
– Aleksandar Arabadzhiev
– Chor Kitka
– Li Liangzi
– Eva Moreno