From ancient Ambrosian Chants to cutting-edge multi-media installations, Italy has always been at the forefront of musical innovation. As a music student in Milan, you have the opportunity to work with world-class musicians, soak-up the local music scene, perform at a variety of venues, and attend a
I greatly enjoyed my experience abroad with the Umbra Institute. The institution was super helpful in preparing to leave the United States and provided lots of information as well as a pre-departure module that gave us important information and a “what to expect” page. Umbra also has a super up to date webpage with blurbs from past student’s which was helpful for me to see others’ experiences. Upon arrival and throughout the semester, the staff made themselves readily available to help during the adjustment period and beyond. They encouraged us to travel and experience our semester to the fullest. The staff gave us recommendations and were hands on throughout the semester. Our professors are simply the best of the best and are super knowledgeable about their fields. The school environment is welcoming and comfortable for all students which allowed me to feel equipped for learning and experimentation. There were endless ways to get involved throughout the semester through community engagement classes, volunteer opportunities, and small group involvement. I was apart of the Umbra Reps program which was a small group of six students who helped with student activities and involvement throughout the semester. I felt like I have been able to really immerse in the culture of Perugia and experience many places this semester. I will truly miss this place and this staff so much!!
My experience at the IES Milan - Music: Voice, Composition, and Instrumental program was truly stellar, filled with invaluable opportunities to learn about Italian music, language, culture, and social issues. I studied opera there and received the finest instruction from music professors like Patrizia Zanardi, Anna Fre, and Stefano Pintor. I was able to apply what I had learned in recitals and one-act operas that my fellow students and I presented at IES, and we had terrific fun in doing so. Not only that, but I was also able to learn by attending not one, not two, but FIVE La Scala opera productions, four of which were paid for by IES. My Staging Italian Opera class also got to observe a rehearsal at La Scala for Mozart's Idomeneo and tour the opera house's workshops. These opportunities shaped my abroad experience, and I am very grateful to IES for having provided them.
Not only was my music education wonderful, but my other classes were excellent too. For example, I took Service Learning and gained insight into the European migration crisis by volunteering at the Municipality of Milan's immigration office, putting the skills I was learning in the seminar (and in my advanced Italian class) to action. I also volunteered as an English tutor to the social worker I shadowed at this office, helping him better serve the English-speaking migrants who came to the office.
I found all of the staff at IES Milan to be superbly helpful. Whenever I had a question about anything, whether it involved an upcoming IES-sponsored trip or a personal health concern, they always answered my questions and showed that they cared about me. I felt that I was in very good hands for the entire semester.
I lived in a homestay with a very kind and loving Milanese family, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything, as it was so fun to have younger "siblings" and to truly immerse myself in the Italian language. My homestay became my home away from home, and in difficult moments I was so grateful to have "parents" to lean on. And the food was incomparable, of course! Nothing in this world is better than a home-cooked Italian meal.
Really the only thing that would have made the experience better for me would have been to feel better connected with the other IES students at the start of the program. Not having any roommates and living 35 minutes away from the IES center made socialization somewhat more difficult at the beginning of the semester, and I think my experience was similar to those of other homestay students in Milan. However, I made incredible friendships once I settled in and got my bearings, and I still stay in touch with them to this day!
I hope that anyone who reads this will be able to study at IES Milan, especially if you are an undergraduate music student. It was the best semester of my life!
I greatly enjoyed my experience abroad with the Umbra Institute. The institution was super helpful in preparing to leave the United States and provided lots of information as well as a pre-departure module that gave us important information and a “what to expect” page. Umbra also has a super up to date webpage with blurbs from past student’s which was helpful for me to see others’ experiences. Upon arrival and throughout the semester, the staff made themselves readily available to help during the adjustment period and beyond. They encouraged us to travel and experience our semester to the fullest. The staff gave us recommendations and were hands on throughout the semester. Our professors are simply the best of the best and are super knowledgeable about their fields. The school environment is welcoming and comfortable for all students which allowed me to feel equipped for learning and experimentation. There were endless ways to get involved throughout the semester through community engagement classes, volunteer opportunities, and small group involvement. I was apart of the Umbra Reps program which was a small group of six students who helped with student activities and involvement throughout the semester. I felt like I have been able to really immerse in the culture of Perugia and experience many places this semester. I will truly miss this place and this staff so much!!
My experience at the IES Milan - Music: Voice, Composition, and Instrumental program was truly stellar, filled with invaluable opportunities to learn about Italian music, language, culture, and social issues. I studied opera there and received the finest instruction from music professors like Patrizia Zanardi, Anna Fre, and Stefano Pintor. I was able to apply what I had learned in recitals and one-act operas that my fellow students and I presented at IES, and we had terrific fun in doing so. Not only that, but I was also able to learn by attending not one, not two, but FIVE La Scala opera productions, four of which were paid for by IES. My Staging Italian Opera class also got to observe a rehearsal at La Scala for Mozart's Idomeneo and tour the opera house's workshops. These opportunities shaped my abroad experience, and I am very grateful to IES for having provided them.
Not only was my music education wonderful, but my other classes were excellent too. For example, I took Service Learning and gained insight into the European migration crisis by volunteering at the Municipality of Milan's immigration office, putting the skills I was learning in the seminar (and in my advanced Italian class) to action. I also volunteered as an English tutor to the social worker I shadowed at this office, helping him better serve the English-speaking migrants who came to the office.
I found all of the staff at IES Milan to be superbly helpful. Whenever I had a question about anything, whether it involved an upcoming IES-sponsored trip or a personal health concern, they always answered my questions and showed that they cared about me. I felt that I was in very good hands for the entire semester.
I lived in a homestay with a very kind and loving Milanese family, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything, as it was so fun to have younger "siblings" and to truly immerse myself in the Italian language. My homestay became my home away from home, and in difficult moments I was so grateful to have "parents" to lean on. And the food was incomparable, of course! Nothing in this world is better than a home-cooked Italian meal.
Really the only thing that would have made the experience better for me would have been to feel better connected with the other IES students at the start of the program. Not having any roommates and living 35 minutes away from the IES center made socialization somewhat more difficult at the beginning of the semester, and I think my experience was similar to those of other homestay students in Milan. However, I made incredible friendships once I settled in and got my bearings, and I still stay in touch with them to this day!
I hope that anyone who reads this will be able to study at IES Milan, especially if you are an undergraduate music student. It was the best semester of my life!
