Barbara Lüneburg

Active participation: all instrumentalists
Intensity level: 3

In the workshop “Body – Expression – Charisma: Artistic Research through Solo Practice” we will focus on the importance of the body in the performance of an instrumentalist. The body is the ‘tool’ through which performers realise sound, musical ideas and emotions, and – at the same time – the body is part of the emotion, the sound and the musical idea. We will explore this through our own playing. The workshop has an instrumental-artistic and a researching explorative part. We will investigate the following questions through the interpretation of a self-selected work:

• What does my body language on the instrument have to do with my charisma?
• What is charisma anyway?
• How do I convey musical expression through my body?
• And how can I explore and understand all this through my own playing?

To this end, the participants will learn the method “Re-enacting Embodiment” developed by Barbara Lüneburg, in which they reproduce and embody the body language of a great soloist through their own instrumental practice. From this they simultaneously learn about their own body and expressive language on the instrument and develop artistically. Along the way, participants will also learn in theory and practice about ‘charisma’ and how artistic research in instrumental playing works.

Prerequisite:

• Preparation of a solo work or concerto
• Willingness to engage with the musical expression and body language of another person (soloist)
• Willingness to possibly be videotaped at the workshop for learning purposes
• Curiosity about artistic research and what it has to do with us artists

Schedule: 

There are a total of four meetings within the entire isa period: a two-hour info meeting including an introduction to Charisma and the Re-enactment Method, two active artistic workshop days and a final joint feedback day where the artistic results of the workshop are shown, discussed and further deepened by the students. There is always a break of a few days between the workshop days so that the participants have time to develop their interpretations and to experiment and gain experience with the re-enactment method.

Karen Asatrian (piano), Bernhard Mallinger (strings), Philipp Sageder (voice, electronics, remixing),
Horst-Michael Schaffer (winds)

Active participation: all instrumentalists and composers
Intensity level: 3

Have you ever asked yourself one of the following questions?

 Is improvised classical music different from improvised jazz?

Improvisation = composing in real time?

How do I get started with improvisation?

Can I learn it?

Where to draw inspiration from?

The objective of this workshop module is to work on compositions at the interface of classical, jazz, and world music in a collective manner (as ensembles with 4–6 individuals) in order to arrive at new ways of expression and options for interpretation, thereby opening up new personal fields of play. Improvisation plays an important role here and functions as a golden thread that ties together all of these styles.

The starting point is provided by separate improvisation master classes for strings, winds, voice, electronics, and keyboard instruments that will be accompanied on the days of the workshop by evening jam sessions together with master’s degree students from the mdw’s Department of Popular Music (ipop).

Composer: Detlev Müller-Siemens
Ensemble Coach: Jean-Bernard Matter
Ensemble Fractales

Active participation: all instrumentalists and composers
Intensity level: 3

Instrumentalists rehearse works freshly composed by the isa composers in preparation for their concert premières!

Hsin-Huei Huang (piano)

Active participation: all instrumentalists
Passive Participation: all composers
Intensity level: 2

Receive instruction in contemporary playing techniques and work on contemporary pieces such as those required by international competitions.

Repertoire suggestions >

The pieces listed are only suggestions from the teacher. Any piece that uses new music playing techniques can be brought in order to deepen it with the teacher.

Dietmar Flosdorf

Active participation: all instrumentalists and singers
Intensity level: 2

isaOutreach invites the local and regional populace to get acquainted with isa musicians in person by working together with them musically. To this end, specially designed workshop offerings provide opportunities for anyone who is interested – regardless of their age – to become an active part of our collaboration and help shape artistic ideas and music through mutual dialogue.

We also make it a point to involve pre-existing activities and resources of local cultural organisations such as brass bands, dance groups, and music schools as an expression of esteem and possibilities for further development.

For the Masterclass students, isaOutreach embodies an opportunity to expand their practical training by putting their own artistic competencies to work in the context of music appreciation and community music.

Some ideas for suitable pieces of music can be found here.

More >

Thomas Toppler

Active Participation: all instrumentalists
Intensity level: 2

This workshop invites you to discover your own playfulness, to curiously shape the moment and thereby expand creativity, strength of mind and possibilities for action.

In contrast to the established ensemble work starting from the instrument, the focus of this workshop is on the communication and playfulness of the musicians with each other. Using various contact and improvisation games from the field of acting, we will embark on new paths of musical communication in an ensemble context. Key topics and challenges in the collaboration will be approached playfully and exploratively at the same time, experience a breeze of fresh inspiration and thereby promote expressive ensemble playing.

“Playing” musicians are open, big, beautiful and above all human. Behind this work is the search for inner freedom, personal expression, the individual drive to express oneself musically and the courage to play with the stage. According to the only rule in art, the motto is: Don’t be boring! Everything else is negotiable.

The contents of this course are divided into the following main topics:

• Sensitivity towards my fellow performers and the audience
• exercises for the perception of stage presence
• tackling musical hurdles in playing together without an instrument in a playful way
• Strengthening communication in the ensemble through interaction games
• Improvisation games with and without instrument
• Leading and letting yourself be led – developing flexible ensemble playing
• Enjoyment of playing with and without an instrument

Ulla Pilz

Active Participation: all instrumentalists
Intensity level: 2

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. What has been learned can be practically applied at the open-stage concerts of the isaFestival.

Andrea von der Emde

Active participation: all instrumentalists and singers
Intensity level: 1

Turning our own bodies into resonant objects that intensify the sounds of our voices and instruments requires conscious bodily perception. The Franklin Method trains the interplay of consciousness and the body by way of the imagination in connection with movement, dance, and relaxation. The more nuanced one’s perception of this interplay is, the more nuanced the ways are in which it can be harnessed to support the sound of one’s voice and one’s instrument. “Embodiment of function improves function” is a characteristic statement by Eric Franklin, the creator of this method.

This workshop is offered in group and individual lessons. The group gives space to rediscover together imaginatively, dancingly, playfully the body as a resource. In the individual lessons, what has been experienced can be deepened and integrated even more individually.

Andreas Vierziger

Active participation: all instrumentalists
Intensity level: 1

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. Individual sessions 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.

Clive Brown, Stefan Gottfried

Active participation: all instrumentalists; emphasis on pianists and ensembles
Intensity level: 2

Clive Brown, with his groundbreaking research on sources that document 19th-century performance styles and practices and with his new editions of works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Brahms, raises questions about long-standing conventions in (historical) performance practice. The conductor, pianist, and harpsichordist Stefan Gottfried, who succeeded Nikolaus Harnoncourt as artistic leader of Concentus Musicus Vienna, is engaged in a continual search for new insights and sources of inspiration. In explorative workshop sessions and in a talk together with Johannes Meissl, questions of agogics, rubato, portamento, articulation, vibrato, etc. will be dealt with both in theory and in practice.

Repertoire focus:
Piano sonatas, sonatas with piano, piano trios and string quartets from Joseph Haydn to Johannes Brahms (epoch: ca. 1780 to 1900).