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This year's Bella Musica tour promises an extraordinary highlight: for the first time, the original violin by W. A. Mozart will be presented in the city of Lucca on 28 August 2024 as part of the Bella Musica tour. This unique opportunity is made possible by a new collaboration with the Mozarteum Foundation.

Last Saturday, after four intensive weeks under the artistic direction of Hannfried Lucke, the International Summer Academy 2024 came to a very successful end with 55 masterclasses, 13 additional courses and 66 concerts. 550 participants from 53 nations (average age 21) were guests in Salzburg. Twelve up-and-coming artists were honoured and each received 1,000 euros in prize money donated by the City of Salzburg's Cultural Fund.

The combination of artistic-creative and scientific-technical approaches is at the centre of the inter- and transdisciplinary project "Co-CreART. Co-Creating Change" project. Together with children and young people, the CreART Lab will be developed over the next few years, a mobile educational space with various opportunities to engage with innovative ideas and possible solutions on the topics of sustainable building and living as well as climate-friendly mobility. As one of 12 projects out of 182 submissions, "Co-CreART. Co-Creating Change" came out on top in the "Learning" category.

Our loyal alumnus, passionate musician (oboist) and pedagogue Wolfgang Billeb passed away in June 2024. In his memory, we would like to publish his memories of his studies at the Mozarteum University once again. The interview was conducted with Ilse Tiebert in 2014 on the occasion of the celebration with his fellow students to mark the 60th anniversary of his graduation from the Mozarteum in June 1954 as part of the "Narrated History" programme of the Art Archive Room.

As a play, La Folle journée by the scandalous author Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais was banned in Vienna. However, Mozart and Da Ponte were able to suggest to Emperor Joseph II that the genre of opera would defuse the revolutionarily objectionable text and were thus commissioned to compose and write the libretto. The question of whether they did not in fact intensify the play in other ways is one that is posed anew in every production. With Le nozze di Figaro, Gernot Sahler and Alexander von Pfeil's opera class continued their Da Ponte cycle, which began with Così fan tutte in May 2023.

Masterclasses, concerts, operettas, contemporary composition and much more between Salzburg, Bad Ischl and Siena: an exciting academy summer awaits at the Mozarteum University!