QMA On Stage 2026
For the seventh edition of QMA On Stage we teamed up with Fiakka Studios again and hosted a five day music residency from September 15-19, 2026. The winning acts each had their own recording studio at their disposal and worked on an insane amount of new tracks. The QMA team together with the Fiakka Studios team invited a bunch of producers to work with and mentors from music industry to share their knowledge with them. All participating musicians received various prizes to them, sponsored by a big variety of different creatives that want to support these promising musicians who recently moved to Vienna to find an entry in the Austrian music scene.
(c) kajmak media
The winning acts
Emila Miran
Emila Miran is a Vienna-based musician, poet and cultural worker. Her music combines Persian poetry with contemporary sounds, creating intimate and atmospheric soundscapes between dream and wakefulness, silence and movement. Across genres and languages, she explores musical spaces in search of the sounds and expressions she wished to encounter while growing up; the music she longed to listen to as a child. Through a dialogue between text and music, she creates a contemporary sound world, where poetic expression, new textures and a profound sense of longing and nostalgia intertwine. Watch a video interview with Emila Miran here.
© Victoria Nazarova
Alexa Lopez
Alexa Lopez is your queer, Mexican singer, songwriter, and producer. The shapeshifter and multi-genre artist blends Latin urban & folk with pop & rnb music. Her multilingual singing is inspired by Judeline, Nathy Peluso and Ariana Grande, while artists like Halsey, Silvana Estrada and Jessie Reyez inspire her songwriting. Alexa stands for authenticity, versatility and liberation.
Watch a video interview with Alexa Lopez here. © Mara May
Nina Eba
NINA EBA is the solo project of Ukrainian singer, sound producer, and DJ Alina Volkova. Shaped by years behind the decks in Kyiv’s bass-heavy underground, her music lets cinematic art-pop tenderness collide with restless club energy. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, she has lived in Graz, Austria, turning displacement, loneliness, and self-acceptance into sound: her debut mini-album MORPHO (2024) was nominated for the MEGOGO Music Award and landed on a closer listen’s Top Ten Electronic 2024 list.
Watch a video interview with Nina Eba here. © Daria Savytska
The jury
# AYGYUL
AYGYUL is a Vienna-based singer, songwriter, and music producer. One of the most compelling live performers in her scene, with over 500 stage appearances including Vienna Pride, Frequency Festival, Waves, and CSD München. Classically trained as an opera singer, she left that path to build her own sound, becoming one of the top beatboxers in the world and crafting a genre she calls Electronic Post-Pop. In 2015, she performed at the opening ceremony of FINA World Championships, broadcast live to 198 countries.
# Geri Hollerer
Geri Hollerer has already held many positions in the music industry. He worked as a booking assistant and head of marketing for the Frequency and Nova Rock Festival, was music editor at Radio FM4, and currently supports the Viennese indie label Las Vegas Records with booking and promo. Alongside this, he is a city guide specialized on pop music history in Vienna and co-hosts the podcast “Wödscheim” for The Message Magazine with Daniel Shaked and Simon Nowak.
# Laura Haubenhofer
Laura Haubenhofer is an artist and project manager at Matches Music, where she works closely with artists, guiding them across all aspects of their careers. With a strong commitment to sustainable career development, she specialises in building long-term strategies for the artists she represents, driven by a continuous fight for greater visibility of underrepresented groups. Beyond artist management, Laura plays an active role in Matches Publishing, overseeing the development and promotion of artists such as Lukas Oscar and Skofi.
The prizes awarded
# CONNECT 2 Interface from LEWITT
# Condenser Microphone LCT 440 PURE from LEWITT
# Microphone MTP W950 from LEWITT
# Artwork by Fabian Dankl
# Single Mastering by Allystreet Studios
# Single Masterings by Victor Steinacher
Invited producers
# Nono Punch
# Melvin Alcantara
# Philipp Pettauer
# Robert Marksteiner
Workshops with music industry professionals
# Listening Session with Luí Matias dos Santos (Gatafiera)
# The Austrian Funding Landscape for Music Production (SKE, Musikfonds) with Dominik Beyer (Music Austria)
# Photoshooting with Niko Havranek
# Press work and radio reachout with Smaranda Krings
# Social Media Marketing and Video Production with Jay Choma
Photos from the music residency
All photos by kajmak media
