Exhibitions | Overview

Eric Zeisl. Vienna’s Lost Son in Foreign Lands

May – December 2025

Born in Leopoldstadt in 1905, Erich Zeisl was admitted to the former Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (today’s mdw) in 1920/21. The mdw’s Exilarte Center recently received his entire musical estate as well as over 5,000 letters from and to Zeisl. It is therefore an important concern to honor this composer, who had such close ties to Vienna and died in Los Angeles, with an exhibition. Zeisl’s exile in Paris, New York and Los Angeles form the stations of the narrative line. In connection with the expulsion, the exhibition deals with the significant field of “Jewish art music” and spans a dramaturgical contour from the unexpected death of this “Urwiener” in a foreign country to his former home of Vienna, which he never saw again.

Triangle of the Viennese Tradition

Schönberg – Zemlinsky – Hoffmann

March – December 2024

Inspired by Arnold Schönberg’s 150th birthday, celebrated around the world, the new exhibition at the mdw’s Exilarte Center sheds light on the social and cultural environment of the founder of the Second Viennese School. In particular, attention is paid to Alexander von Zemlinsky, who taught Schönberg and introduced him to the Viennese music circles, and to Richard Hoffmann, who was a pupil of Schönberg and later became his assistant.