Andreas Vierziger

Active participation:
all instrumentalists and singers

The requirements for being a successful classical musician have changed rapidly in recent years. Mastering an instrument now merely forms the basis of an artist’s 360-degree profile. Small group coaching with music manager Andreas Vierziger provide an opportunity to focus on your own career strategies. The contents of these sessions are flexible and can include topics such as concert booking, self-management, project management, creating and optimising artist materials, project development, positioning and branding, websites, marketing skills, networking, and beyond.

The sessions either develop flexibly and organically or you come with a specific list of questions or documents that you would like to revise.

Hyung-ki Joo

Active participation: all

A workshop designed to explore less-charted areas of the different processes involved in making music. It is impossible to exactly define or formulate the complex set of skills and requirements a musician would need during the course of his or her life. Musicians of all levels are mostly pre-occupied with learning the right notes, perfection, needing to practise more or feeling guilty that they are not practising. But what are the right notes? What is perfection? And practise more what and HOW? Rarely are we taught how to deal with stage fright, success, failure, and scarily but scarcely are we shown how to have fun with music and how to communicate not only with the listener, but how to interact socially on a daily basis. Joo’s experiences, as a beginner, student, teacher, performer, composer, conductor, writer, and, working in areas outside of the classical field, have given him a window into seeing the many areas in music education that are left untouched. Beyond the Practice Room benefits any musician who wishes to widen their horizons and take their level of enjoyment and achievement to a more fulfilling and all-rounded level. Besides working on classical music repertoire, musicians are encouraged to show any own works, musical or non-musical, or any own projects or ideas that venture outside the regular forms of music making. Beyond the Practice Room aims to create a forum and environment for any “hidden talents” to be revealed, and encourages participants to try something beyond their comfort zone. Students do not necessarily need to come prepared with something polished and they may bring a piece or an idea that is a work-in-progress, in fact, this is even encouraged. Students come away from these workshops inspired and invigorated, and many leave their fears and inhibitions behind. Others are instilled with confidence to follow their own artistic path. Ultimately, Beyond the Practice Room reminds us that music is meant to be fun and it opens our awareness and senses to the thing that is happening beyond the four walls of a practice room, namely life and living.

Hyung-ki Joo

Active participation: all pianists

“Can I play the piano with my nose?” According to Claude Debussy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – yes. Behind the humour lies a serious artistic question: how can pianists achieve greater fluency, ease, and freedom at the keyboard? The physical dexterity required in piano playing is comparable to that of a high-performance athlete, and fingering choices often determine whether a passage feels awkward and unreliable or natural and effortless. In this seminar, Hyung-ki Joo explores the art and science of piano fingering, examining how intelligent fingering strategies can unlock technical freedom, musical clarity, and confidence in performance. Even highly accomplished pianists can become trapped by inefficient fingerings, finding themselves repeatedly struggling with passages despite extensive practice. Often, the obstacle is not the passage itself, but the physical choreography behind it. Drawing on his work as a contributor of fingering editions for G. Henle Verlag, Joo invites participants to think creatively and flexibly about movement at the keyboard. Through practical demonstrations and analytical discussion, the seminar explores alternative approaches to notation, hand distribution, and finger organisation designed to maximise efficiency and minimise unnecessary physical tension. As a central case study, Joo presents his fingering edition of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, offering insight into the decision-making process behind complex technical solutions and illustrating how small adjustments can produce significant musical and technical gains. Participants are also invited to submit specific passages in advance for discussion and fingering guidance, allowing the session to address real technical challenges directly relevant to their repertoire During the workshop, we will be working with the digital scores in the Henle Library Campus Edition, including Joos’s annotated fingering editions. Those who have the Henle app are asked to download the edition of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 before the workshop. For everyone else, the sheet music will be projected via a projector.The seminar ultimately aims to transform fingering from a purely practical necessity into a creative and artistic tool — one that allows pianists to move beyond technical limitation and towards greater freedom, fluency, and expressive possibility at the keyboard.

Hyung-ki Joo

Active participation: all

In these individual coaching sessions, the internationally renowned pianist and all-round artist Hyung-ki Joo works with the participants on stage presence, artistic expression and creative communication. The sessions are aimed at anyone who wishes to further develop their musical personality and gain new inspiration and a renewed joy in making music.

Martin Rainer

Active participation: clarinetists/wind players

The workshop is mainly aimed at clarinetists. However, all dates are open to other wind players, who can also present a repertoire of their choice and receive coaching. The proposed repertoire for the course includes the most frequently requested solo and orchestral passages for auditions, as well as the obligatory pieces (solo concerts) for the respective instrument. Participants who are preparing for future auditions are welcome to bring their own pieces to the workshop.

Ulrich Wagner, Pit Kaufmann

Active participation: all instrumentalists and singers

 Olivia De Prato

Active participation: all strings and string quartets
(Passive) participation: all composers

Receive instruction in contemporary playing techniques and work on contemporary pieces such as those required by international competitions. Please see the attached repertoire lists. You may also bring other works that you are currently working on.

Repertoire suggestions violin solo:
Bruno Maderna: Piece pour Ivry (1971)
https://www.musicshopeurope.com/pièce-pour-ivry-1971-nr%2013188600

Michel Van Der Aa: Caprice (1999)
https://www.vanderaa.net/work/caprice/

Zoscha Di Castri: Patina (2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaiaFDC4avE

Kaja Saariaho: Nocturne (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ5Ow0thsco

Johannes Maria Staud: Towards a Brighter Hue (2004)
https://www.universaledition.com/johannes-maria-staud-2231/works/towards-a-brighter-hue-12095

Oliver Knussen: Secret Psalm (1990)
https://www.fabermusic.com/music/secret-psalm-1174

Reiko Füting: tanz tanz (2010)
https://oliviadeprato.bandcamp.com/track/reiko-f-ting-tanz-tanz

Helmut Lachenmann: Toccatina (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ip-ktKA08

Ornette Coleman: Trinity (1986)
https://www.earsense.org/chamber-music/Ornette-Coleman-Trinity_-Fantasy-for-solo-volin/?rq=ct%3D2%26lid%3D-1%26p%3D2656%26rc%3D60304&ri=53123

Repertoire suggestions viola solo

Salvatore Sciarrino(1947) Tre notturni brillanti, for Viola

Garth Knox(1956) Viola Spaces. Contemporary Viola Studies (vol. 1), for Viola

Stefano Gervasoni: Tornasole for viola

K. Saariaho: Vent nocturne (2006)

Repertoire suggestions violoncello solo

K. Saariaho “Sept Papillons” (2000), for cello solo

Rebecca Saunders,Solitude, for solo Cello, 2013

Kaija Saariaho petals, 1988

Georges Aperghis 4 recitations for cello solo, 1980 revised 2008

Repertoire suggestions chamber music ( string quartet)
György Kurtág: 12 Mikroludien (10 min)
Zosha Di Castri: String Quartet N. 1 (8min)
Felipe Lara: Corde Vocale (7min)
Elliott Carter: 2 Fragments (8min)
Marisol Jiménez: Sed de arcano (12min)
Salvatore Sciarrino: Sei Quartetti Brevi (20min)
Wolfgang Rihm: Quartet N.4 (20min)
Toshio Hosokawa: Silent Flowers (13min)
Thomas Adés: Arcadiana (25min)
Philip Glass: String Quartet N.3 “Mishima” (15min)
Julia Wolfe: Dig Deep (18min)

Ulla Pilz

Active participation: all instrumentalists, composers and singers

Musicians are being asked more and more often to present themselves onstage not only with their instruments but also verbally. This workshop provides support, feedback, tips, and tricks for public speaking in the field of music. That which is learned can be practically applied at selected concerts of isaOnStage.

Leonard Eröd

Active participation: all wind players

Chamber music encourages shared artistic experiences and provides an opportunity to discover your own musical personality in a new or different way. In addition, the workshop offers a great opportunity to network with colleagues and make new musical contacts.

Registered students will be divided into ensembles during an initial meeting at the isa. Further workshop dates and rehearsals will be coordinated with other class schedules (private lessons, etc.). Sheet music will be provided on site. There will be opportunities to perform in concerts.

Vida Vujic

Active participation: strings, all other instrumentalists and singers

Chamber music encourages shared artistic experiences and provides an opportunity to discover your own musical personality in a new or different way. In addition, the workshop offers a great opportunity to network with colleagues and make new musical contacts.

Registered students will be divided into ensembles during an initial meeting at the isa. Further workshop dates and rehearsals will be coordinated with other class schedules (private lessons, etc.). Sheet music will be provided on site. There will be opportunities to perform in concerts.

Consti Luger

Active participation: all

Lecture and workshop: Climate Change, Society and Sustainable Perspectives in the Performing Arts

The global climate crisis is reshaping ecological systems as well as social, political and cultural structures. Within the performing arts, this raises fundamental questions about how artistic practice can respond to these transformations – both critically and creatively. The lecture examines key intersections between climate change, socio-political dynamics and the performing arts sector, addressing issues such as the ecological footprint of cultural production, emerging models of sustainable cultural organization, and artistic strategies for fostering environmental awareness. The subsequent workshop translates these perspectives into collaborative artistic practice. Through biosonification, biodata and biological processes are transformed into sound and integrated into collective musical experimentation. This approach creates an experiential space in which environmental processes are not only discussed intellectually but become perceptible and performatively explored through sound and shared musical engagement. Bring your instruments!

Gerold Gruber

Active participation: all

The Exilarte Centre at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is dedicated to researching, preserving and reviving the works of musicians who were erased from cultural memory as a result of persecution and exile under National Socialism. In 2026, Exilarte will celebrate its 20th anniversary as well as 10 years of institutional affiliation with the mdw.

As part of the isa – International Summer Academy of the mdw, this work takes place in direct dialogue with young musicians: the workshop, led by the founder of the Exilarte Centre, Associate Professor Dr Gerold Gruber, offers students the opportunity to engage intensively with selected works from the Exilarte estates.

The focus is on practical work on the repertoire. Drawing on original sources, interpretative questions, stylistic features and aspects of programme design are explored collaboratively. At the same time, the workshop provides insights into the background of the works and the often fragmentary nature of their transmission.

The workshop is conceived as a fusion of artistic practice and historical reflection: the aim is not merely to reconstruct the music, but to rethink and reposition it as a living component of today’s concert life.

Birgit Kral

Active participation: all

Start your isaMasterclass day with an activating 45-minute yoga session.

Strengthening and balancing exercises (asanas) enhance your body awareness, whilst gentle stretching helps to release tension. By combining movement, breath and mindfulness, you’ll cultivate focus, inner calm and expressiveness.

Come as you are – with or without prior experience – and start the rest of your day feeling refreshed, centred and with a confident, upright posture, both inside and out!

Please bring comfortable clothing and, if possible, a blanket or towel.

Hannah Baumann, Kian Jazdi, Jonathan Pengl, Axel Petri-Preis

Active participation: instrumentalists and singers, NO piano

How can a living room be transformed into a concert venue with real impact?
In this 3-hour workshop, we’ll show you how to turn a private space into a carefully curated concert experience. We’ll discuss dramaturgy, atmosphere, connection with the audience, and the distinct roles of host versus guest.

We’ll also address practical matters: planning, communication and logistics. With practical examples, discussion and space for your own ideas.
For anyone who wants to present music in a way that is personal, accessible and, at the same time, artistically compelling. The special feature: in the evening, you’ll put everything into practice straight away and perform a Living Room Concert at the Gasometer in Vienna.

Johannes Fleischmann, Maria Stippich, Helmut Stippich

Active participation: all

What does Vienna sound like – and what makes the Viennese musical tradition so special? This interactive workshop invites participants not only to discover Viennese music, and in particular the ‘Wienerlied’, but also to experience it for themselves. Characteristic styles, timbres and forms of musical expression will be presented through live examples. The focus is on making music together: Participants will discover typical elements of Viennese musical tradition through spontaneous jam sessions with the workshop tutors and well-known figures from the Wienerlied scene: Maria Stippich (vocals and contraguitar), Helmut Stippich (vocals and accordion), and Johannes Fleischmann (violin – Neue Wiener Concert Schrammeln).