Mission Statement

The Institute for Church Music and Organ provides its students with exceptional training and preparation for the challenges of the international music scene in the fields of Catholic and Protestant Church Music, Organ Concert Performance, Vocal and Instrumental Music Education – Organ, and Music Education.

In organ studies, students are taught the very latest organ knowledge and skills, developed through artistic practice, teaching, research and instrument making. Students can take advantage of guest lectures and regular excursions to prominent organ locations, as well as the opportunities provided within the four fields of study.

The design of the new, mobile organs and the exposure to the instrument children will receive will promote the development of organ playing and raise public awareness of the artistic potential of this queen of instruments. The institute also plays a particular role in preserving and promoting repertoire for the instrument through the International Summer Academy for Organ and the hosting of competitions such as the Graz International Organ Competition “Bach and die Moderne” [“Bach and Modernity”], as well as through commissioned compositions.

The Catholic and Protestant Church Music field of studies provides artistic, academic and practical liturgical training at the highest level. After the full breadth of the subject has been covered in the bachelor’s degree, the master’s degree offers students the opportunity to specialise in organ, choral directing, Gregorian chant or sacred composition.

With practical placements in churches within the city of Graz, plus a wealth of opportunities for practice at the institute, excursions, and participation in festivals, conferences, etc. the study programme guarantees both breadth and depth of learning. There is a particular artistic and academic emphasis on Gregorian chant.

The institute also carries out research in church music disciplines, in particular Gregorian chant, liturgy, hymnology and organ studies.

| Foto: Aleksey Vylegzhanin