This issue’s Special reveals just how important—and experientially rich—the mdw’s diverse international activities are. We introduce you to the wide breadth of opportunities that mdw students, faculty, and administrative employees enjoy when it comes to international visits and how such instances of mobility end up leading to long-term projects time and time again.

The mdw is internationally and globally networked, with students from over 70 nations and some 190 partner universities from every continent. This vibrant exchange benefits students, teachers, and administrative staff who travel to our partner institutions or come from them to the mdw.

For many years, now, isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw has been viewed as one of the most prestigious summer courses for up-and-coming talents hailing from all over the world. This year’s inaugural Viennese edition of isa took place at the innovative mdw Campus, where young musicians came together in order to hone their abilities, network internationally, and expand their artistic horizons in high-intensity master class sessions, workshops, and concerts.

Music reflects the environment from which it comes. 19th-century symphonies from the German-speaking region, for instance, are characterised by highly structured forms, rich harmony, and a continuity of musical traditions. 20th-century music from Latin America, on the other hand, grew out of an entirely different reality: vast, untamed landscapes, rapidly growing cities, political conflicts, and identities fed by indigenous, African, and European heritage.

It’s typically reasons like the desire to step outside of one’s comfort zone, to learn new things, to broaden one’s professional horizon, and to engage in exchange with others at the international level that motivate participation in mobility activities.

The links between the mdw (including its institutional predecessors) and the Far East have long been quite close.

The mobility programme Erasmus, in which the mdw has been a participant since the 1993/94 academic year, is now celebrating 30 years of existence.