Michi Gaigg, baroque violin and baroque orchestra professor at the University, will direct the new Academy, whose goal is to afford talented young musicians the opportunity to gain experience in orchestral playing. Qualifying students will go on to play in an opera project that will culminate in performance at the Donaufestwochen Grein (Danube Festival) in Upper Austria in 2009. The Academy will focus on works for mixed ensembles by composers from Dresden around 1720.

During the reign of August II the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Dresden flourished as a cultural and musical centre, earning the nickname “Elb-florenz”, or Florence on the Elbe (see Goldberg 40). The music at the court, the princely chapel and opera attracted 18th-century musicians and music lovers from across Europe. J.S. Bach and his son Wilhelm Friedemann, for example, journeyed from Leipzig to the Electoral capital to hear the renowned Dresdener Liederchen, Italian opera sung by the most in-vogue Italian stars.

The Academy will concentrate on recreating the spirit of this artistically-fertile period, and especially on its highly renowned orchestral culture. Teachers will include Michi Gaigg (baroque orchestra), natural horn player Christian Binde (chamber music), natural trumpeter Wolfgang Gaisböck, flautist Claire Genewein, bassoonist Rogerio Gonçalves,  oboist Carin van Heerden, gambist Claire Pottinger, salterio player Elisabeth Seitz, double bassist  Maria Vahervuo, and harpsichordists Norbert Zeilberger, Anne Marie Dragosits and Martina Schobersberger.

Johannes Heimetsbergers will direct the vocal ensemble, and Axel Weidenfeld will lecture. Students will arrive on Wednesday 21 May, and a final concert will be held on Sunday 25 May. Anton Bruckner University is one of five Austrian academies for music, drama and dance, and one of four universities in Linz, European Culture Capital in 2009. 850 students from around the world work with a staff of 200 tutors, each of whom is widely experienced and well known in his or her respective field.

The federal government of Upper Austria subsidises each place at the University, which keeps tuition fees for students relatively low as they work towards Bachelor and Masters Degrees. A four-semester course entitled Early Music and Historical Performance Practice is of particular interest. Full details at http://www.bruckneruni.at/