Gustav Mahler Academy
The Gustav Mahler Academy is one of the leading summer courses in Europe. Founded by Claudio Abbado to provide outstanding education to young musicians, this two-year course offers a completely unique learning experience focusing on masterclasses, chamber music and orchestra. The Academy’s highly acclaimed originalklang project is a rare opportunity for modern musicians to experience the world of period instruments and performance practice for romantic music. The course is completed by recordings for a major label and appearances in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.
The Academy includes:
→ Full scholarship with room and board
→ Masterclasses
→ Chamber music and orchestra with musicians from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
→ Symphony orchestra side by side with 50 members of top European Ensembles
→ Experience with gut strings and original Viennese instruments from 1900
→ Expertise in historic performance practice for late romantic music
→ CD recording for Alpha Classics
→ European tour to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Vienna and others.
Gustav Mahler Academy 2025/2026
Year One
July 22 – August 10, 2025
Sibelius and the Russians
Masterclasses
Chamber Music
Chamber Orchestra
The Academy kicks off with a week of masterclasses with exciting soloists, chamber musicians and orchestra leaders. The students dive into an intense chamber music session exploring the glorious Russian chamber music repertoire and its connection to the music of Jean Sibelius. In the Mahler Academy Orchestra they play side by side with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Guest Faculty 2025 |
Repertoire 2025 |
| Resident Tutors | Mahler Academy Orchestra |
| Mahler Chamber Orchestra | Mahler |
| Rückert Lieder | |
| Violin: | |
| Michael Barenboim | Sibelius |
| (Soloist, Barenboim-Said Academy) | Symphony N. 2 |
| Andrea Obiso | |
| (Concertmaster Accademia di Santa Cecilia) | Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Conductor |
| Viola: | Chamber Music |
| Veronika Hagen | Tchaikovsky |
| (Hagen Quartet) | String Quartets N. 1-3 |
| String Sextet “Souvenir de Florence” | |
| Cello: | Piano Trio |
| Floris Mijnders | |
| (Principal Münchner Philharmoniker) | Arensky |
| Quartet | |
| Double bass: | |
| Janne Saksala | Borodin |
| (Principal Berliner Philharmoniker) | String Quartet N. 2 |
| Winds: | Rimskij-Korsakov |
| Marco Postinghel | Quintet with winds |
| (Principal Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) | |
| Sibelius | |
| Voice: | Quartet |
| Camilla Tilling | En Saga |
| (Soloist) | |
| Pauliina Tukiainen | Nielsen |
| (Piano, Lied-interpretation – Mozarteum Salzburg) | Wind Quintet |
Year Two
August 28 – September 18, 2026
originalklang project
Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg on period instruments
Chamber Music
Symphony Orchestra
European Tour
The Academy continues with 50 students of the Mahler Academy and 50 members of outstanding European ensembles forming an orchestra, that has been highly acclaimed by audiences and critics and has caused a sensation during their hugely successful tour in 2024.
Playing on period instruments from around 1900, provided by the Academy and our partner Euregiokulturzentrum Toblach, the orchestra reconstructs the sound and style of early Viennese modernism and brings a new and revolutionary sound to the Music of Mahler and his contemporaries. No prior period-instrument-experience required.
Repertoire 2026 |
|
| Mahler Academy Orchestra | Chamber Music |
| Berg | Berg |
| Violin Concerto | Lyric Suite |
| String Quartet op. 3 | |
| Mahler | |
| Kindertotenlieder | Janáček |
| Mládí – Wind Sextet | |
| Mahler | |
| Symphonies N. 1 & N. 9 (tbc.) | |
| Patricia Kopatchinskaja – Violin | |
| Philipp von Steinaecker – Conductor | |
| European Tour: Amsterdam, Bolzano, Hamburg, Paris, Toblach, Vienna a.o. | |
Check out the Mahler Academy Orchestra 2024 in concert at the Philharmonie de Paris!
Voice
July 31 – August 09, 2025
Gustav Mahler worked with singers all his life and wrote some of his most important works for the human voice.
The Mahler Academy Bolzano acknowledges this part of his legacy by adding a course for young singers at the beginning of their careers to its program.
The Academy includes:
→ Full scholarship with room and board
→ Masterclass with soprano Camilla Tilling
→ Coaching with pianist Pauliina Tukiainen (professor for Lied at Mozarteum University Salzburg)
→ Collaboration with Sir John Eliot Gardiner
→ Performances of one or more of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Mahler Academy Orchestra and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (subject to hearing)
→ Performances of Mahler and Sibelius songs with Pauliina Tukiainen as part of the Academy’s chamber music concerts
Year One
July 22 – August 10, 2025
Sibelius and the Russians
Masterclasses
Chamber Music
Chamber Orchestra
The Academy kicks off with a week of masterclasses with exciting soloists, chamber musicians and orchestra leaders. The students dive into an intense chamber music session exploring the glorious Russian chamber music repertoire and its connection to the music of Jean Sibelius. In the Mahler Academy Orchestra they play side by side with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Guest Faculty 2025 |
| Resident Tutors |
| Mahler Chamber Orchestra |
| Violin: |
| Michael Barenboim |
| (Soloist, Barenboim-Said Academy) |
| Andrea Obiso |
| (Concertmaster Accademia di Santa Cecilia) |
| Viola: |
| Veronika Hagen |
| (Hagen Quartet) |
| Cello: |
| Floris Mijnders |
| (Principal Münchner Philharmoniker) |
| Double bass: |
| Janne Saksala |
| (Principal Berliner Philharmoniker) |
| Winds: |
| Marco Postinghel |
| (Principal Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) |
| Voice: |
| Camilla Tilling |
| (Soloist) |
| Pauliina Tukiainen |
| (Piano, Lied-interpretation – Mozarteum Salzburg) |
Repertoire 2025 |
| Mahler Academy Orchestra |
| Mahler |
| Rückert Lieder |
| Sibelius |
| Symphony N. 2 |
| Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Conductor |
| Chamber Music |
| Tchaikovsky |
| String Quartets N. 1-3 |
| String Sextet “Souvenir de Florence” |
| Piano Trio |
| Arensky |
| Quartet |
| Borodin |
| String Quartet N. 2 |
| Rimskij-Korsakov |
| Quintet with winds |
| Sibelius |
| Quartet |
| En Saga |
| Nielsen |
| Wind Quintet |
Gustav Mahler Academy 2025/2026
Year Two
August 28 – September 18, 2026
originalklang project
Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg on period instruments
Chamber Music
Symphony Orchestra
European Tour
The Academy continues with 50 students of the Mahler Academy and 50 members of outstanding European ensembles forming an orchestra, that has been highly acclaimed by audiences and critics and has caused a sensation during their hugely successful tour in 2024.
Playing on period instruments from around 1900, provided by the Academy and our partner Euregiokulturzentrum Toblach, the orchestra reconstructs the sound and style of early Viennese modernism and brings a new and revolutionary sound to the Music of Mahler and his contemporaries. No prior period-instrument-experience required.
Repertoire 2026 |
| Mahler Academy Orchestra |
| Berg |
| Violin Concerto |
| Mahler |
| Kindertotenlieder |
| Mahler |
| Symphonies N. 1 & N. 9 (tbc.) |
| Patricia Kopatchinskaja – Violin |
| Philipp von Steinaecker – Conductor |
| European Tour: Amsterdam, Bolzano, Hamburg, Paris, Toblach, Vienna a.o. |
| Chamber Music |
| Berg |
| Lyric Suite |
| String Quartet op. 3 |
| Janáček |
| Mládí – Wind Sextet |
Check out the Mahler Academy Orchestra 2024 in concert at the Philharmonie de Paris!
Voice
July 31 – August 09, 2025
Gustav Mahler worked with singers all his life and wrote some of his most important works for the human voice.
The Mahler Academy Bolzano acknowledges this part of his legacy by adding a course for young singers at the beginning of their careers to its program.
The Academy includes:
→ Full scholarship with room and board
→ Masterclass with soprano Camilla Tilling
→ Coaching with pianist Pauliina Tukiainen (professor for Lied at Mozarteum University Salzburg)
→ Collaboration with Sir John Eliot Gardiner
→ Performances of one or more of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Mahler Academy Orchestra and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (subject to hearing)
→ Performances of Mahler and Sibelius songs with Pauliina Tukiainen as part of the Academy’s chamber music concerts
Applications open: January 13 – February 27, 2025
The participation is open to music students born between January 1, 1999 and July 21, 2007 from any nationality.
Applications are open for the following instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone and to singers of all voice ranges.
Debut recording of the Mahler Academy Orchestra on Alpha Classics: Philipp von Steinaecker conducts Mahler’s Ninth Symphony on period instruments.
Just in:
Awarded with the German Record Critic’s Awards
„Mit einem bis in die Haarspitzen motivierten Projektorchester stößt sie die Tür weit auf zur Vergangenheit und birgt gerade deshalb ein großes Potential für die Zukunft der Mahler-Interpretation. Ein Meilenstein.“
With a highly motivated project orchestra, it pushes the door wide open to the past and therefore harbours great potential for the future of Mahler interpretation. A milestone.
„Ein faszinierender Reichtum an Farben!“
A fascinating wealth of colours!
“Transparent, herzzerreißend, erschütternd modern: So möchte man ab sofort alle Mahler-Symphonien hören.“
Transparent, heartbreaking, shatteringly modern: this is how you want to hear all Mahler symphonies from now on.
„Tatsächlich könnte diese Interpretation zu den wenigen gehören, die man einmal richtungsweisend nennen wird.“
In fact, this interpretation could be one of the few that will one day be called trend-setting.
„I’m convinced by this stellar recording […] I marveled at the expressive layers and details that the period instruments added.“
„Diese Interpreten nehmen es mal eben mit der Mahler-Diskografie auf – von Bruno Walter bis Mariss Jansons, vom Concertgebouw Orchester bis zu den Wiener Philharmonikern. Chapeau!”
These performers take on the Mahler discography – from Bruno Walter to Mariss Jansons, from the Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Vienna Philharmonic. Chapeau!
„this recording – a remarkable recording debut for this young orchestra – that this is a disc that deserves to be heard by Mahlerians of all hues.”
„Von modernen Orchestern und Dirigenten gerne totgeklopft im verzweifelten Versuch, Mahlers abgründigen Humor zu treffen, sind sie nun Bilder von überbordender Klangphantasie, überraschend durch immer neue Farb- und Geräuschkombinationen.“
Often beaten to death by modern orchestras and conductors in a desperate attempt to capture Mahler’s abysmal humour, they are now images of exuberant sound fantasy, surprising with ever new combinations of colour and sound.
Debut recording of the Mahler Academy Orchestra on Alpha Classics: Philipp von Steinaecker conducts Mahler’s Ninth Symphony on period instruments.
Just in:
Awarded with the German Record Critic’s Awards
„Mit einem bis in die Haarspitzen motivierten Projektorchester stößt sie die Tür weit auf zur Vergangenheit und birgt gerade deshalb ein großes Potential für die Zukunft der Mahler-Interpretation. Ein Meilenstein.“
With a highly motivated project orchestra, it pushes the door wide open to the past and therefore harbours great potential for the future of Mahler interpretation. A milestone.
„this recording – a remarkable recording debut for this young orchestra – that this is a disc that deserves to be heard by Mahlerians of all hues.”
„Von modernen Orchestern und Dirigenten gerne totgeklopft im verzweifelten Versuch, Mahlers abgründigen Humor zu treffen, sind sie nun Bilder von überbordender Klangphantasie, überraschend durch immer neue Farb- und Geräuschkombinationen.“
Often beaten to death by modern orchestras and conductors in a desperate attempt to capture Mahler’s abysmal humour, they are now images of exuberant sound fantasy, surprising with ever new combinations of colour and sound.
„Ein faszinierender Reichtum an Farben!“
A fascinating wealth of colours!
„Diese Interpreten nehmen es mal eben mit der Mahler-Diskografie auf – von Bruno Walter bis Mariss Jansons, vom Concertgebouw Orchester bis zu den Wiener Philharmonikern. Chapeau!”
These performers take on the Mahler discography – from Bruno Walter to Mariss Jansons, from the Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Vienna Philharmonic. Chapeau!
„I’m convinced by this stellar recording […] I marveled at the expressive layers and details that the period instruments added.“
„Tatsächlich könnte diese Interpretation zu den wenigen gehören, die man einmal richtungsweisend nennen wird.“
In fact, this interpretation could be one of the few that will one day be called trend-setting.
“Transparent, herzzerreißend, erschütternd modern: So möchte man ab sofort alle Mahler-Symphonien hören.“
Transparent, heartbreaking, shatteringly modern: this is how you want to hear all Mahler symphonies from now on.