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.

In the recent practicum “Jazz in Austria” an introduction to important holdings at Viennese libraries was paired with a focus on artistic legacies and collections at the archives and libraries of the mdw.

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.

The fact that microrhythmic phenomena have often been assigned merely subjective and sometimes contradictory descriptions as a “feeling”. However, highly developed algorithms and machine learning methods are now enabling the measurement of material such as funk grooves, solos by jazz saxophonists, and the Rolling Stones’ typical drum patterns right down to the millisecond.

This past summer semester, ipop – Department of Popular Music head Ralf von Appen taught a first-ever mdw seminar focused on the American singer Taylor Swift. Von Appen subjected Swift to close academic scrutiny together with academic assistant Mira Perusich and 23 students.

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. Students from various programmes are welcomed to the mdw’s Clara Schumann-Saal by Miriam Steinkühler-Fuchsberger, a member of the ipop – Department of Popular Music faculty. Her mission today, like on many Tuesdays past: to unleash students’ passion for singing together despite any tiredness after their day’s work at the University. mdw Magazine sat in on one of their rehearsals.

With the Department of Popular Music (ipop) celebrating 20 years of existence, we take brief look into its past and future with teachers, graduates, and students.

The theme of this multiauthor volume, which presents lectures from the 29th Annual Conference of the German Society for Popular Music Studies, hits a socio-political nerve for more reasons than just the increasingly nation-centred coronavirus mitigation strategies.

Conceiving, arranging, producing, and performing with guidance from the internationally renowned artist Steve Sidwell.