At the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, master classes with renowned female instrumentalists have been taking place since 2013 – this year with saxophonist Marie-Bernadette Charrier (Conservatoire of Bordeaux). Only works by women composers are performed.
The underrepresentation of women in music, be it female composers, orchestral musicians, soloists, conductors or professors at higher music education institutions, is still a fact – even though a lot has changed in the last decades. The cross-institutional project of of Plattform Gender_mdw – Holz-Blech-Schlag – promotes the visibility of women composers and contributes to the expansion of a more gender-equitable repertoire.
The final concert of the master class for women composers at Porgy & Bess will feature commissioned compositions for saxophone in various instrumentations by Anna Keller, Anna Maurer and Victoria Pfeil as well as works by Afamia al-Dayaa, Doina-Cezara Procopciuc, Viola Falb and Noemi Haffner.