2016 lernen sich drei junge Musiker kennen: der Saxophonist Severin Neubauer, der Geiger Maxim Tzekov und der Schlagwerker Severin Hechwartner. Die damals etwa 15jährigen Musiker proben gerade mit elf weiteren hochmusikalischen Jugendlichen des Young Masters Ensembles intensiv für die kommende USA-Tournee.It was in 2016 that the three young musicians Severin Neubauer (saxophone), Maxim Tzekov (violin), and Severin Hechwartner (percussion) became acquainted. Aged 15 at the time, the three were rehearsing intensively for an upcoming US tour together with eleven other highly musical members of the Young Masters Ensemble.

It’s packed—more than packed. The Joseph Haydn-Saal is filled to the last seat, with people sitting on the floor, perched on windowsills, and leaning against the walls despite the live video feed in the foyer and the hot summer temperatures. The programme that’s brought everyone here consists of welcoming addresses, a programmatic introduction, and a keynote, all revolving around questions of gender, performance, and the performative. It’s the official inauguration of the International Research Center – Gender and Performativity (ICGP).

Art bears within it the potential to cast off the old, conceive of the new, and recontextualise the familiar. At the same time, however, arts and cultural institutions as well as arts universities are facing criticism to the effect that they stabilise existing power relations and elites.

It’s now official: the isaScience conference is history, having made way for the isaResearch Summer School as a new format for research within the framework of isa.

16–18 October 2025 will see the Department of Cultural Management and Gender Studies (IKM) celebrate 50 years of existence. Reason enough to pop the corks, recall our department’s beginnings, reflect upon developments since then, and conceive of perspectives for the future!

What happens after a fixed-term contract ends? How can career development, international mobility, and caregiving responsibilities be reconciled? The uncertainty and precariousness alluded to in these questions are only compounded by the increasing pressure to publish as well as dependence on third-party funding. Discussion of these issues is ongoing both nationally and in European research at large.

Peter Schmidl was born in Olomouc, Moravia in 1941 and grew up in a family whose musical roots extended back to the days of Gustav Mahler. His father and grandfather had been first clarinettists of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

In its current exhibition, the mdw’s Exilarte Center has created a space of remembrance for the exiled Viennese composer Erich Zeisl. Erich Zeisl was born in Vienna in 1905, and it was with flying colours that he passed his entrance examination at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (today’s mdw).

From 30 May to 6 June 2025, the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna hosted an international seminar entitled “Quality versus Participation? Politics in Music and Performing Practices”. This week-long event brought together students from the mdw, the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), the University of Maiduguri, the University of Arts Linz, and the Center for World Music as part of the ongoing collaboration with the international graduate school “Performing Sustainability”.