Program Overview

Introduction to the Vienna Study Abroad Program

The School of Music offers a unique Study Abroad opportunity in Vienna, Austria, a city renowned for its rich musical heritage. This program is open to any student interested in music, including majors, minors, non-majors, students from other universities, alumni, community members, and MOLLI students.

Program Details

• The program takes place in the summer and offers a comprehensive immersion into Vienna's musical life, which is dominated by four monumental performance venues: the Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Vienna State Opera House, and the Stephansdom cathedral.
• Combined with world-class theatre, art museums, galleries, and historic sites that span the ages, there is something for everyone in Vienna.
• Field trips are offered to other locations of interest, such as Salzburg and Prague.

Curriculum and Experience

• The program is customized with the music student in mind, focusing on the study of great masterworks of the ages, performances in historic concert halls, and walking in the footsteps of great composers and artists who lived and worked in Vienna, including Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Klimt, Otto Wagner, Bruckner, Czerny, Haydn, Mahler, Schoenberg, Strauss, and many more.
• Students will have the opportunity to attend world-class concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic, considered by many to be the best orchestra in the world, and engage in open rehearsals.
• At the Vienna State Opera, students will experience one of the top musical venues in the world, with the chance to see first-class productions, as the famous stage offers a different program every day, with over 50 operas and ballets each season.
• In the realm of Chamber Music, students will hear leading pianists, violinists, cellists, string quartets, contemporary ensembles, vocalists, wind players, brass ensembles, percussionists, and period instrument ensembles from around the world.
• Attendees will also have the chance to attend grand choral concerts and performances by the Vienna Boys Choir, who have an enthusiastic international following and are often referred to as "the youngest Viennese Ambassadors."

Cultural and Historical Exploration

• The program includes visits to the Museum of Fine Arts, built in 1891 near the Imperial Palace, which houses the extensive collections of the imperial family and is considered one of the premiere museums in the world, featuring works from Rembrandt to Monet.
• Participants will embark on 178 miles of walking tours, visiting the homes of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and more, and seeing the graves of composers including Mahler and Brahms, allowing them to walk where these musical legends walked and listen to concerts in the grand halls where their works premiered.

Eligibility and Participation

• The program is open to a wide range of participants, including those who have not been students for some time. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (MOLLI) at the University of Montana is offering portions of the Vienna trip to its members for those 50+ years old.