isaOutreach – Music Reaches Out
When do cows ever get a chance to listen to classical music? And where can you see people making music on tractors? This August, isa – the International Summer Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is setting out to bring its music to people who live out in the country. From 12 to 26 August 2018, the numerous isa presentation formats will resound throughout the Rax and Semmering Region: every day of the isaMasterClasses sees many hours’ worth of string-scraping, mouthpiece-blowing, vocalising, and key-pressing—and the results of all this hard work by our young musicians will ultimately be heard by the public in the over 40 concerts of the isaFestival.
Music Connects the City and the Country, the International and the Regional
In 2016, EU funding made it possible for outreach-focused music education students from all over Europe to come to Reichenau for the first time to do field research at and around isa. That was the initial catalyst for isaOutreach, the International Summer Academy’s music outreach programme. With isaOutreach, isa has since worked to maintain and intensify contact with people living in the region, discover new spheres of activity on location, and establish new networks.
Innovative Concert Locations and Formats
This year, isaOutreach aims to get people making music, yodelling, dancing, and singing at institutions that serve children, adolescents, people with disabilities, and senior citizens. And in the future, with support from the isa team as well as mdw music outreach expert Dietmar Flosdorf, Leonhard Paul of Mnozil Brass, and YOU, the intent is to not just have high-calibre young musicians experience isa, but also and most of all to have isa’s music reach and spark excitement among the local populace outside the conventional concert locations, as well. With pop-up concerts in unusual locations, couch concerts in parks, a musical hike in Payerbach, and the Sommerfest at the Quellenhof in Schwarzau am Gebirge, we plan to work together to fill the entire region with music. And the more people support us in this effort, the more people we can reach with this music. So when you see a tractor with live music on board driving through the streets of Reichenau this August, you’ll know that our project has been funded—and with your help, isaOutreach will be able to put down new roots this year and continue to grow, ultimately making a valuable contribution to society.
