Austria

Logo Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst WienProgram for Gifted Students at the University of Music and the Performing Arts Vienna


The Program for Gifted Students at mdw is an initiative involving several institutes designed to provide a broad education for gifted young musicians preparing to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since 2008 it has been directed by Barbara Gisler-Haase (Flute) and Wolfgang Aichinger (Cello), two long-standing teachers at mdw.

The Program for Gifted Students is based on the inter-institutional research project »Junge Akademie Wien« (2005-07), which formed the starting point for a reform of the preparatory studies programs of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. It builds on a long tradition of education for young musicians (the gifted students classes at the Vienna Music Academy in the 1950s; cooperation with Vienna’s music gymnasium – from 1965; and the preparatory courses at the Hochschule für Musik – from 1970), which later culminated in the establishment of the Program for Gifted Students and to further steps being taken to anchor the initiative in an institutional form and to place it on a legal footing.

Currently 110 young musicians receive tuition in the Program for Gifted Students. A broad range of classes and special courses and projects serve to further the students’ musical, creative and personal development. The program places special emphasis on optimal cooperation between teachers, students and parents as well as with other institutions engaged in the education of young musicians. Workshops featuring prominent artists, concerts and exciting projects in the »Treffpunkt Podium« series as well as tours give talented young people from many different countries and cultures opportunities to meet and get to know one another and to make music together. The many international prizes won by our graduates as well as invitations to perform as soloists with orchestras testify to the success of our work.

www.mdw.ac.at/bfmdw/