SDSU vocal students join Dean Janis McKay for an unforgettable musical journey at Austria’s Classical Music Festival

As Andrew Vega, Sophia Perez, Nathan Villamor, and Joey Cruz stepped into Esterházy Palace in Austria, their gazes were drawn upward to the  glorious ceiling, adorned with paintings of heavenly figures and decorated ornately with brilliant shades of gold, red, and blue.

Taking in the overwhelming beauty of the palace, they knew that this would be a truly memorable moment on their musical journeys.

The four vocal students were all hand-picked by the San Diego State University School of Music and Dance to travel to Austria last summer with Janis McKay, Dean of the SDSU College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts, to attend the Classical Musical Festival, an annual, week-long summer event in Eisenstadt, Austria. 

“I've performed as principal bassoon for the Classical Music Festival for over 25 years, but it became a much more meaningful experience for me once we were able to take students along,” said McKay. “They learn more about classical style in a week or two than they do after years of study. It is a joy to watch.”

Eisenstadt is a small town on the eastern border of Austria, most famous for being the home of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), one of the most important figures in the development of the classical style in music. The students spent 10 days exploring the rich musical scene of Eisenstadt and other Austrian cities to determine if this type of trip would appeal to future students.

The trip was funded by the Take a Seat Campaign, a fundraising program inspired by the new SDSU Performing Arts District. The Campaign supports performances, students, faculty, and other vital needs of the performing arts programs at SDSU.

“This is such an outstanding opportunity for our music students to study and perform in the venues where the composer Haydn lived and worked for most of his life,” McKay said.

Vega, a recent graduate of SDSU, said performing in Esterházy Palace was one of the highlights of the trip.

“That was probably one of the most noteworthy places we performed because there’s so much history in that room and it’s preserved so well and it’s still in shape to have live performances inside,” Vega said.

Vega reflected on how all music majors have learned about Esterházy Palace in their history and literature courses at SDSU, and how it felt huge to step into that space, let alone have the privilege to perform inside of it.

“The music was written for that space, and so it’s an entirely new experience,” Vega said.

The students also sang one of Haydn’s works in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where their performance was broadcast live on Austrian radio.

Their last performance was in a church in Eisenstadt, near Haydn’s mausoleum.

“You feel just a little more connected to this person that you don’t know, but you know about their works, and their life, and their music,” Vega said of Haydn, adding that it fascinated him to learn how this composer’s life influenced his art.

Later they toured a cemetery outside Vienna where world-renowned classical musicians like Mozart and Beethoven are buried.

On their day off, they took a train back to Vienna for a short day-trip and explored the uniquely walkable streets of the city, went shopping, ate schnitzels, and visited a Claude Monet and Picasso museum exhibition.

“Being able to freely explore a beautiful European city was my favorite part,” Vega said.

“I was incredibly surprised and honored to even be considered for such an opportunity,” said Sophia Perez, a fourth-year at SDSU majoring in classical vocal performance and theater performance with a minor in child and family development. “...It just felt like all of our work and dedication for the music program had paid off.”

Perez said that while she enjoyed the bustling city of Vienna, she especially loved the “small town-feel” of Haydn’s hometown, Eisenstadt.

“It was fantastic to be surrounded by such a rich food culture and music culture and just (the) overall environment and atmosphere,” Perez said.

Perez enjoyed learning more about Austrian culture and was touched by how close-knit the Eisenstadt community was, how much they valued classical art, and how welcoming they were to the students. 

She observed how choir singers and orchestra musicians from all over the world traveled to Austria for the festival and described the phenomenal experience of watching McKay perform bassoon in the orchestral ensemble while she and the other students sang alongside her in the chorus.