All Wagner College students have the opportunity to begin their summer with a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a trip to Austria and the Czech Republic from May 25 through June 2, led by Professor Thomas Juneau in collaboration with Professor Lori Weintrob.
While the Wagner College choir will perform at select venues, including Salzburg Cathedral and St. Florian Monastery, the trip is open to all students, regardless of major or participation in the choir. Non-choir students are encouraged to explore the cities, take part in excursions, and enjoy cultural experiences while the choir is performing. Alumni, faculty, and staff are also welcome to join.
The trip marks the third international tour for the Wagner College choir and continues an itinerary that combines music, history, and cultural experiences. Previous tours have taken students to Italy and France, where performances and historical study were paired with visits to significant cultural landmarks. “This will be the third trip that we have taken with Wagner College, alumni, friends, family, staff, you name it,” Juneau said.
The tour begins in Salzburg, Austria, a city Juneau described as “such a perfect gem of a European town.” Salzburg boasts centuries of musical tradition, and choir members will perform at Salzburg Cathedral, where Mozart once worked. “It’s the home to Mozart,” Juneau said, noting that music is central to the city’s identity. “You go to Salzburg and everything’s Mozart.”
From Salzburg, the group will travel to Linz and visit St. Florian Monastery, the burial site of composer Anton Bruckner. The choir will perform there, an opportunity Juneau described as “a great honor.” He recalled his first visit to the monastery, saying, “I’ve never seen a place like Saint Florian’s Monastery. It was built more with a palace in mind.”
The itinerary includes a visit to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where students will engage with the history of World War II and the Holocaust. The focus will be on “the role of art and music as acts of resistance,” allowing students to explore how music and creativity endured even under extreme oppression. Juneau emphasized the importance of confronting this history as part of the educational experience: He and Weintrob “had been teaching together as part of the integrated learning program and a course about music and musicians of World War II and the Holocaust,” he said, noting that combining performance with historical context allows students to understand the deeper human impact of the music they study.
The tour continues through the region, including a stop in Cesky Krumlov, described in trip materials as “the perfect medieval town,” before concluding in Prague. Founded more than 1,000 years ago, Prague is one of Europe’s historic imperial cities and was not heavily damaged during World War II. “It’s incredible to see a town like that that’s still in great condition,” Juneau said. The choir will perform at St. Vitus Cathedral, one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, providing an amazing opportunity for all participants to experience.
Juneau emphasized the broader impact of international travel on students, noting that the experience goes far beyond performance. “The opportunity not only to travel, which of course is so important to the development of the person, but also to go see a culture that has existed for thousands of years, it really just opens your mind,” he said. “When you see more of the world, you understand more.”
The trip includes round-trip airfare, seven nights of hotel accommodations, coach transportation, group dinners, concerts and recital experiences, and guided tours throughout the region. Produced through ACFEA Travel Consultants, the estimated cost is $4,000, with space limited.
“It’s incredible,” Juneau said. “Everybody’s so welcoming, so kind. Students get to see what else there is in the world, and that stays with them.”
