6 Nov 2025
EP. 55 - Living & working in St. Gilgen, Austria: where Mozart is a local legend w/ Lindsey Stirrat
Lindsey Stirrat t is an international school music educator who was, until recently, based at St. Gilgen International School (https://www.stgis.at/) in Austria.
Her journey spans the UK (performer and peripatetic teacher) and roles across Oman, Dubai, Austria (Vienna), Switzerland and Singapore before moving to the Austrian Alps. She taught within the IB (PYP/MYP/DP) framework and helped shape a highly community-embedded arts programme in St. Gilgen, a village that itself functions as the campus.
The school’s arts culture is tightly woven into the local context: music classrooms sit beside the boathouse on Lake Wolfgang, performances take place in the former home of Mozart’s mother and a restored 1950s cinema, and students regularly perform around town. A student-led “24-Hour Jam” now anchors the calendar as a Red Cross fundraiser, and a cross-disciplinary Industry Arts course (media, events, music tech, gaming/3D/AI, branding) connects learners with partners such as Red Bull, TEDx and Take Two Studios.
In this episode, we explore:
Lindsey’s path from UK performer/teacher to Oman, Dubai, Switzerland, Singapore and Austria
What it’s like to teach in St. Gilgen where the village doubles as the school campus (yes, students eat lunch in local restaurants)
Turning a town into an arts hub: boathouse classrooms, Mozart’s mother’s house as a performance space, a 1950s cinema, and even a floating stage on the lake
The 24-Hour Jam: a student-led DP CAS fundraiser with continuous music, multiple creative “zones,” and deep community involvement
Balancing Austria’s classical heritage (Mozart, opera, orchestras) with contemporary, global and student-driven music in line with IB’s personal/local/global aims
The Industry Arts programme (Gr 9–10): leadership, event production, short-form media, music tech, gaming/3D/AI, and how it pipelines into IBDP Arts
Eco-school priorities and how climate awareness shows up in arts learning and community projects
Please do check out the links below for everything mentioned in the show!
Get in touch with Lindsey:
Contact Lindsey via email at her new school in Singapore: lindsey.stirrat@gess.edu.sg (mailto:%20lindsey.stirrat@gess.edu.sg)
Links and resources from this episode:
Industry Arts Course (Gr 9–10): media, events, music tech, gaming/3D/AI - download Lindsey's unit outline here:
PDF Download Here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/13DFRK43rX3VrwUHMjVb98x2GkR6PeKza/view)
PPTX Download Here (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/130mgHYm_BjEfQnrl4Hs44sEn2oJZeXD6/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104511027420226091118&rtpof=true&sd=true)
Salzkammergut / Lake Wolfgangsee (St. Gilgen) (https://maps.app.goo.gl/WHhXBsH4FWZ5fJkG6)
“Mozart’s Mother’s House” (St. Gilgen) (https://www.google.com/maps/place/MoHA+-+Mozarthaus+St.+Gilgen/@47.7670409,13.3537107,15z/data=!4m10!1m2!2m1!1zTW96YXJ04oCZcyBNb3RoZXLigJlzIEhvdXNl!3m6!1s0x4776badaa0086983:0xa80a9fcc6adb306b!8m2!3d47.7666289!4d13.3678755!15sChtNb3phcnTigJlzIE1vdGhlcuKAmXMgSG91c2VaGSIXbW96YXJ0J3MgbW90aGVyJ3MgaG91c2WSAQ9jdWx0dXJhbF9jZW50ZXKaASRDaGREU1VoTk1HOW5TMFZKUTBGblNVUmxYeTF0ZVRCblJSQULgAQD6AQQIKxAi!16s%2Fg%2F122qx_bp?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTEwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) – performance space
St. Gilgen Old Cinema (1950s “Kino”) (https://maps.app.goo.gl/McX2DUNFCkEdBJSTA) – performance venue
IB Music (MYP/DP) (https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/the-arts/music/) – personal, local and global contexts
EPISODE SPONSOR:
This episode is brought to you by Trinity College, London. Trinity works worldwide to support the music education of hundreds of thousands of students with assessments across a wide spectrum of styles, including in Classical, Jazz, Rock & Pop and theory of music. If you’re looking for music exams that are super flexible, learner-centred and come with plenty of local on-the-ground support, then Trinity College London could be the perfect option for your international school setting.
To help get you started, Trinity is offering a $250 voucher for all new centres, simply register your interest here: https://tinyurl.com/Trinity-MFI-offer (https://tinyurl.com/Trinity-MFI-offer)
