How do art and research mediation relate to pro-democratic awareness-raising? What contribution can research and democracy ambassadors active in schools make to the cultivation of critical thinking as a skill central to democratic action? And how might this be done in actual practice? These questions were the focus of an exchange event at the mdw’s Banquet Hall on 11 December 2025.

The mdw’s first-ever Pop-Up Advent Calendar this past December saw musical performances play out at various spots all over Vienna—getting the public in the Christmas spirit in a special way and making for unforgettable concert moments.

It was a historic moment for the mdw great talent award powered by Christian Zeller: for the first time since the inception of this competition, all three finalists were awarded 1st prizes—a powerful testament to these young talents’ outstanding quality and the competition’s continual development.

A Monday in December at the Vienna Gasometers. I’m moving between shops, escalators, and long glassed-in corridors. The four gasometer towers here can be viewed as something like a city-within-the-city, being home to around 1,500 people. Their approximately 220,000 m2 of floor space play host to residential flats, offices, retailers, and cultural offerings. It’s a place of everyday life—and it was precisely here that the fourth edition of the community music series “Grätzl Töne”, which I experienced as an enrolee in the music mediation course “Vermittlung von Musik”, played out

Germany’s Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender were guests of Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen from 21 to 23 October of last year. It had been 28 years since a German federal president had last made a state visit to Austria.

The initial reactions were admittedly sceptical when a veritable recorder afficionado contacted us from Boston, USA to announce his desire to stage a competition for recorder students at the mdw in memory of his Israeli father Hans Lewitus, who had been active in Peru—initially as a clarinettist and eventually also as a player of the recorder, for which he went on to arrange and compose numerous works.

The mdw’s worldwide renown is owed especially to its longstanding tradition and expertise in the training of highly talented classical music performers. But beginning in the winter semester of 2026/27, our institution will be expanding its broad range of degree programmes by a first-ever two-year Master of Arts in Popular Music Performance.

The inaugural “reConnect mdw” alumni festival in October invited former students to return to their alma mater, network with current students and faculty, and transform the mdw into a lively place of memories.

From 29 November to 5 December of last year, the third edition of the annual event Festwoche Musikpädagogik took place. This week-long festival enables all of the University’s music education programmes and departments to present themselves in their full artistic and pedagogical breadth. In doing so, the goal is to highlight the music education profession’s societal importance, spark an interest in music education among young people, and eliminate any inhibitions towards the University.