The mdw maintains a longstanding partnership with Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) that includes faculty and student exchanges, reciprocal delegation visits, and successful cooperative projects.
A highlight in this relationship was 2021’s “Cloud Festival”, whose concerts, master classes, and series of lectures and discussions were all streamed live. This festival took place as part of the celebrations marking the 50-year jubilee of diplomatic relations between Austria and China.
CCOM President Yu Feng, himself a conducting professor and a frequently requested conductor, has already given multiple conducting master classes at the mdw, most recently in autumn 2024. mdw conducting students, for their part, have been invited to Beijing to take part in master classes at CCOM. And Qin Wenchen, CCOM’s vice president and a professor of composing, held an autumn 2024 guest lecture at the mdw’s Department of Composition Studies and Music Production.
2025 marks the beginning of a special cooperative project: CCOM, the mdw, and the renowned Austrian music publisher Universal Edition (UE) have teamed up to plan a competition for young composers. This competition is set to take place every two years, alternating between chamber and orchestral music focuses. For this year’s inaugural edition, potential entrants are called upon to submit chamber works of between ten and twelve minutes in duration (deadline: 20 June 2025). Participation is limited to individuals born in 1990 or later, but there are no limitations in terms of nationality. The jury, comprised of internationally recognised composers and composing professors including the mdw’s Michael Jarrell, will examine and evaluate the submitted works this summer.
The competition’s three winners will be announced as part of a concluding concert on 30 November 2025 at the MuTh concert hall in Vienna. In addition to cash prizes (1st prize: EUR 10,000, 2nd prize: EUR 5,000, 3rd prize: EUR 3,000), the winners will be given the opportunity to have their works published by UE via its web tool “scodo”.
For the mdw, offering composing students an international platform is an important objective of this competition, about which Vice Rector for International Affairs and Art Johannes Meissl says the following: “With this new initiative, CCOM and the mdw are joining forces with UE to generate an important impulse for a new generation of international composers. A further significant aspect here is close cooperation between two internationally top-ranked music schools and a major player in the international music market. And finally, the option of including selected traditional instruments of Chinese or European origin lends this competition its own very special profile.”
Full details on the competition’s call for entries.
