It’s whenever multiple crises play out simultaneously that the key ways in which universities foster lively, society-wide discourse become particularly clear—in light of which the following pages introduce mdw projects that put common ground and dialogue firmly in focus.

"All of the mdw’s areas of study are strongly intertwined with scholarship and research—including music education, which even has its own research department. Teacher training can only be elevated to the highest possible level of excellence if it’s deliberately kept distinct from the training of performers."

Bridging the gaps between multiple fields—specifically, the social sciences and film—as well as between groups within society was the central thrust of the project BUILDING BRIDGES in Polarized Societies: Film – Wien – ArbeiterInnenmilieu – Rechtspopulismus […: Film – Vienna – The Working-Class Milieu – Right-Wing Populism], which ran from 2021 to 2025.

We live in a deeply unsettling era overshadowed by an anthropogenic climate catastrophe, violent conflicts, and the erosion of democratic societies. In times like these, everyone is called upon to help build a more sustainable, peaceful, and mutually supportive coexistence, no matter how modest their contributions may be.

How do kids and teens learn about what’s being researched at universities? And where can the findings of scientists and scholars be directly perceived in our everyday lives? Science communication formats aim to enable people situated outside of academic fields to encounter topics from the realm of science and research in the most accessible way possible.

Anyone who knows the composer Antonio Salieri merely as a supposed rival of Mozart will have a chance to change this in 2025. In connection with the 200th anniversary of Salieri’s death and his upcoming 275th birthday, we take a fresh look here at the man whom we have to thank for today’s mdw.

In a departure from this year’s large-scale celebrations of Johann Strauss, SALIERI 2025 creator Jürgen Partaj is devoting his 2025 entirely to the (re)discovery of Antonio Salieri. In conversation with mdw Magazine, he revealed his personal SALIERI 2025 highlights, spoke of his research trip to Italy, and pointed out how Salieri even appeared on The Simpsons.

Whenever the composer Antonio Salieri comes up in conversation or in writing, one immediately senses an elephant in the room—the indestructible rumour that he was Mozart’s murderer, a jealous rival of inferior talent who used poison to eliminate a genius from his path. All assertions to the contrary—be they from music historians or from Salieri himself, who was confronted with this legend even during his own lifetime—have been of no help, here. So what to do?

“Salieri, by the way, was quite gregarious. His most cherished entertainment was amidst the circle of his students.” This assessment in an 1825 obituary for Antonio Salieri refers not only to Salieri’s composing students such as Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Giacomo Meyerbeer, or Johann Nepomuk Hummel, but in equal measure to those individuals whose vocal training had been close to Antonio Salieri’s heart throughout his life.