History

About isa

What began in 1991 as a master class for string players with 13 students has evolved into a globally unique event. Until 2023, it was a summer campus in the Semmering/Rax region of the Vienna Alps, offering up to 250 exceptionally talented young musicians from over 40 countries a diverse program of master classes, workshops, lectures, events, and extensive interdisciplinary projects each year. Starting in 2025, isa will be based on the mdw campus in Vienna.

isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna offers around 50 different courses aimed at young instrumentalists, singers, chamber musicians, and composers of world-class caliber. It also includes the music education program isaCommunity and the interdisciplinary international academic conference isaResearch.

About the mdw

The mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is one of the largest and most renowned universities for music, theater, and film worldwide. Approximately 3,000 students from 72 countries pursue their education in 122 degree programs spanning music, performing arts, science, research, and pedagogy. Among the university’s 25 institutes are the Max Reinhardt Seminar and the Vienna Film Academy. The mdw is a member of IN.TUNE: Innovative Universities in Music & Arts in Europe.

Learn more about the mdw

History

Founded in 1991 as an mdw initiative under the leadership of Univ.-Prof. DDr. h.c. Michael Frischenschlager, isa emerged from the euphoria following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Its goal was to foster musical encounters and establish international relationships among exceptionally talented young students, particularly from Central and Eastern European countries.

Since its 15th edition in 2005, the current artistic director of isa, Univ.-Prof. Dr. h.c. Johannes Meissl, has consistently worked to shape isa into an enterprise that derives its identity from a dynamic mix of teaching activities, diverse workshops, festival performances, academic reflection, and innovative interdisciplinary artistic projects. This is complemented by the ever-evolving networks of friendships and connections that continue to grow. The mdw places particular emphasis on combining the highest artistic and organizational quality with social and intercultural community building.

In collaboration with numerous international partner universities, isa offers its selected participants a rich array of opportunities under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty. These include key artistic impulses, comprehensive development possibilities, and a uniquely holistic and creative experience.

ÜBERBLICK

Seit 1991 Meisterkurse für Solo-Streicher (ohne Kontrabass)

Seit 1993 Meisterkurse für Streichquartett

Seit 1994 Meisterkurse für Bläser solo und Bläserkammermusik

Seit 1995 Meisterkurse für Komposition

Seit 1998 Meisterkurse für Sängerinnen und Sänger

Since 1999 Master classes for piano & chamber music with piano

2003–2010 Master classes in conducting

Since 2005 A diverse and constantly expanding range of supplementary workshops and lectures

Since 2006 Master classes for double bass

Since 2013 Development of the concert series isaFestival

Since 2013 isaScience – a forum for the scientific and scholarly community

2019 isaOperetta

2020 isaDigital

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

1991–2004:
em. o. Univ.-Prof. DDr. h.c. Michael Frischenschlager

Since 2005:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. h.c. Johannes Meissl

PARTNER UNIVERSITIES

It proved possible early on to involve the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest as the main cooperating partners. Moreover, each annual edition of the International Summer Academy since then has also featured collaboration with a number of other leading universities of music from the CEE countries—namely those in Bratislava, Brno, Zagreb, Sofia, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sarajevo, Vilnius, and Kraków—as well as participation by renowned university-level institutions situated in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, and elsewhere.

FAMOUS TEACHERS

The International Summer Academy’s list of prominent present and past tutors includes the leading pedagogues of its partner universities and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna—many of whom have been and continue to be active worldwide as artists, including in famous ensembles and orchestras such as the Alban Berg Quartet, the Amadeus Quartet, the Bartók Quartet, the Janáček Quartet, the Czech Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, etc.

High-powered encounters with famous personalities such as Alfred Brendel, Carl Djerassi, Ivry Gitlis, Thomas Hampson, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sharon Kam, Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, György Kurtág, Heinrich Schiff, Krysztof Penderecki, Dora Schwarzberg, and Tabea Zimmermann underline the International Summer Academy’s superlative artistic standards.

FORMER PARTICIPANTS

In the past, isa participants have taken part successfully in major international competitions such as the ARD Competition (Munich), the Fritz Kreisler Competition (Vienna), the Menuhin Competition (Folkstone), the Osaka Chamber Music Competition, the Paganini Competition (Genoa), the Prague Spring Competition, and many more. Many artists who attended isa as students now pursue careers on the world’s concert stages or perform at opera houses and in major orchestras including the Budapest State Opera, the Sofia State Opera, the Czech National Theatre, the Vienna State Opera, the Zagreb State Opera, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Czech Philharmonic, and others.