This versatile artist gathered her initial experiences with community outreach during a voluntary social year in Costa Rica. And by now, she can look back upon numerous successful projects—like developing the All Stars Inclusive Band (the mdw’s first inclusive ensemble) and assuming musical direction of the Wiener Festwochen festival opener.

Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos is the ideal material for a project that aims to interlace the numerous departments of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Participants explain just why that is so in a conversation with mdw Magazine.

What kinds of works written for the piano are well suited to helping young players discover the world of contemporary music? What are the technical boundaries within which one can compose innovative piano pieces of pedagogical value that are realisable in lessons and still embody convincing compositions in their own right?

Since 2015, Marialena Fernandes and her students have taken regular trips to the Indian province of Goa. And last year, before the backdrop of Beethoven 2020, they were able to gather some very special musical impressions.

The Webern Kammerphilharmonie, whose players are drawn from the ranks of the mdw, was first brought together with a concrete objective in mind: to support young artists in launching their future careers as professional orchestral players. The ensemble, originally with the English words “Chamber Orchestra” in its name, was founded in 2015. Ever since, it’s been bringing together excellent mdw students and graduates.

In keeping with the motto “change as a driving force”, this successful and authentic singer, bandleader, and composer—a courageous, powerful woman whose art overcomes divisions in more ways than one—is fighting for better working conditions in her profession and for social justice.

The mdw-trained Tonmeister Winfried Lachenmayr is among those individuals responsible for the acoustics of the new Future Art Lab. In a conversation with mdw Magazine, he explains why working on this extraordinary building was so special to him and what makes it so unique in the context of European musical campuses.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the 11th Vienna Music Business Research Days from taking place this year at the mdw with its usual international audience in attendance. But despite the unfavourable situation, the entire conference went forward in the virtual realm.