The doors of the underground open practically into the heart of the Gasometer's Tower C – albeit you'd need to walk through several floors of a shopping mall, and past the many fast food options to reach the conference venue “Musik im Dialog-Saal”. Built in the late nineteenth century as a gas storage facility, the building today houses a music school, music venues, and occasional academic discussions, such as Excellently Engaged that asked whether artistic excellence and societal engagement are separable at all.

Hidden within the holdings of the Austrian National Library is a manuscript document authored by Antonio Salieri in 1802. It embodies a letter of sorts, addressed to “that person who will one day mount the world première of this opera”. The voice heard here is that of a composer who, realising that he would not live to see his final work for the stage premièred, took pains to lay down instructions that might be read by an unknown recipient in the future. Now, 224 years later, Salieri’s letter has received a response of sorts: this past May witnessed the world première of La bella Selvaggia in Valladolid, Spain.

For decades, Jeff Beal has been shifting his focus back and forth between film studios and concert halls, and it was with music for productions like House of Cards that this American composer became known internationally. 13 April saw the five-time Emmy Award-winner give a master class for mdw students. In the following conversation, he speaks about artistic processes, inspiration, and how living with MS has changed his understanding of music.

In this mdw Magazine interview, the intriguing genesis of the community music project weites Nahen [Proximate Distance] and the preparations for its performance on the mdw Campus on 3 June 2026 are discussed by Axel Petri-Preis (co-artistic director, Participation and Community), Peter Jakober (co-artistic director, Composition), Bettina Büttner-Krammer (Head of Music Education, Wiener Symphoniker), Lukas Kobermann (conductor of the wind ensemble Blasmusik Kagran), Mariia Pysmenna (secondary school teacher, MS Johann-Hoffmann-Platz), and Emir Handzo (secondary school teacher, MS Brüßlgasse).

“One of my earliest specific memories is from my musical training as a small child. We were standing around an open grand piano and were supposed to see how long we could actually hear a note,” remembers the passionate musician. Thanks to music-loving parents who wanted to give him the opportunity to acquire a musical education, the Lower Austria native began with piano lessons in the first form of primary school and then took guitar and saxophone lessons later on.

The mdw’s Church of St. Ursula can look back upon 350 years as an important location for (sacred) music in Vienna. Empress Dowager Eleonora Gonzaga, the widow of Emperor Ferdinand III, brought the Order of Saint Ursula to Vienna in 1660. A central concern of this order, one that they shared with the Jesuits, was to promote education. The small group of invited sisters, who arrived from Liège, first took up residence on Dorotheergasse before moving to Johannesgasse in 1663.

It was through the Exilarte Center that the passionate chamber musicians of the Ineo Quartet first came into contact with banned music. And today, string quartets by composers such as Julius Bürger and Hans Gál have become fixtures of their repertoire.

A fascination with different ethnicities and worlds of sound has accompanied Salah Ammo since the very beginning. And thanks to a new master’s degree programme at the mdw, this passionate Kurdish Syrian musician has been able to realise a long-held dream: to engage with the broad field of ethnomusicology as a researcher.

The upcoming 32nd edition of the tradition-steeped Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music, scheduled to take place at the mdw from 30 January to 3 February 2026, will feature Tristan Murail as a guest—reason enough to present a brief portrait of this intriguing composer.