“STUDIO Dachsberg” (Studio D for short) offers our students the necessary space for intensive personality development through the development and implementation of project-oriented endeavours in the areas of “Music – Theatre – Film – Radio Play”. As an educational concept that spans classes and grades, the focus is on promotion of music. Thanks to our project-oriented approach, numerous fields of learning are linked to each other and worked on intensively. Having won various awards, STUDIO D enriches school life with its performances while at the same time making a great contribution to the public relations work of the Rückersdorf Institute for the Blind.

At festivals and celebrations during the school year, such as the summer party or the graduation and farewell ceremony at the end of the school year, STUDIO D always provides an atmospheric musical setting. In addition, STUDIO D has always sought the public and wanted to reach people outside of the Institute for the Blind, as well.

With songs composed by project manager Torsten Nowitzki and his (former) colleague Fritz Schumacher themselves, well over 150 performances have already been staged – in Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen, Lauf/Pegnitz, Würzburg and as far away as Munich.

In addition to our 2016 “Best-of CD” with songs from the first ten years of Studio D, the students produced a CD with their Christmas songbook in 2020, which they were unable to play as usual at the Nuremberg Christmas Market that year and the following year due to corona. For some time now, they have been working on further recordings for another CD production, which hopefully can come out before 2024 is over.

For the remainder of the 2023/24 school year, notable performances will include a street music event in Erlangen (Hugenottenplatz, 10 June 2024) as well as the musical arrangement of an event as part of the “JobErfolg” (JobSuccess) award ceremony on 24 July at the Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft in Munich on the invitation of the Bavarian State Ministry for Family, Labour and Social Affairs and the Bavarian State Government Commissioner for the Interests of People with Disabilities.

Over the next two school years, we can expect generational change at Studio D, with more senior students ageing out of education and younger ones ready to replace them. This change requires careful management.

Thanks to the donation in kind from a new wireless transmission set by the Hans Thomann Foundation, the students in the inclusive band are well equipped for their upcoming performances.

Please click on this link to find further information on Studio D and the Institute for the Blind:

https://www.blindeninstitut.de/de/blindeninstitute/rueckersdorf/studio-d

Torsten Nowitzki, StR FöS, Head of STUDIO D
Schule am Dachsberg

Institute for the Blind Rückersdorf