From 4 to 7 February of this year, the 6th Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition took place in the Fanny Hensel-Saal and was also streamed live on the Internet. Its jury publicly discussed the 14 compositions nominated for the final round, which saw them performed by students of the Ludwig van Beethoven Department of Piano in Music Education.

isa, the International Summer Academy of the mdw, will take place this year on the mdw’s main campus at Anton-von-Webern-Platz, a new spatial setting that’s well positioned to offer students more opportunities—especially for creative exchange.

To mark the Elemental Music Education (EMp) programme’s 40 years of existence at the mdw, 29 November 2024 witnessed an anniversary celebration in which EMp faculty members provided wide-ranging impressions of their field in its development, breadth, and significance.

On 29 October 2024, ipop hosted a workshop with the American rock guitarist Jennifer Batten. In a field dominated largely by men, Batten is surely one of the best-known and most successful women—and her renown extends beyond the confines of the guitar community.

For years, the mdw has been a leader in the testing and implementation of new streaming technologies. Considerable technological investment and quite some willingness to experiment on the part of all those involved are necessary in order to make possible and utilise high-quality audio and video transfer with the lowest possible latency for concerts, for remote lessons, and especially for musicians playing together live in different locations.

Cellist Anmari van der Westhuizen gave a presentation entitled Cross-Cultural Sounds: South African Contemporary Solo Cello Works on 15 November 2024 at the invitation of the Alma Rosé Department.

2024’s mdw great talent award powered by Christian Zeller showcased yet another wide-ranging field of contestants, excellent overall artistic quality, and an accomplished winner. The American singer Zacharías Galaviz-Guerra won over the jury (chair: Angelika Möser) in the thrilling final round on 18 November, winning the EUR 10,000 first prize as well as a professional sound recording.

On 8 November 2024, the European Research Council Project “GOING VIRAL: Music and Emotions during Pandemics (1679–1919)” opened its doors to the public with a symposium entitled “Music – Emotions – Pandemics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives”.

Learning more about the academic foundations of music both historically and in the present while simultaneously digging deeper into the artistic and practical side of musical culture? Obtaining insights into professional practice as well as experience in research-based learning? The 2025/26 winter semester will see the mdw launch a new academic and artistic master’s degree programme.