Vienna renames conservatoire after wacky pianist

The International Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is to be renamed the Friedrich Gulda School of Music Vienna from the next academic year.

Gulda (1930-2000), possibly the most original and eccentric pianist ever to emerge from Vienna was shunned in his lifetime by the establishment. He took up jazz, wore funny headgear and sometimes gave recitals naked with a girlfriend. He was a ray of light in a tenebrous society.

Together with the name change, the conservatory with public law, which has existed since 2017, is also sharpening its profile in the Viennese university and conservatory landscape:

Marcus Ratka, principal of the Gulda School says: The mission statement associated with the name Friedrich Gulda stands for mutual respect and exchange between genres and cultures worldwide, for music as a positive and peace-making force in an increasingly complex world with its new challenges. The connection with the name of the great musician Friedrich Gulda means encouragement and obligation at the same time: Inner fire, passionate devotion, patient work, but also relaxation and humour, but above all love for the cause, for people and the environment.’