Musical Biography
Monika Gaggia started her musical training when she was five years old and received her first cello lessons at the age of ten. She studied at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the Conservatoire Européen in Paris. Her most important teachers were Wilfried Tachezi, Radu Aldulescu and Harvey Shapiro. In summer 2001 she completed her solo cello and pedagogical studies in Salzburg, graduating as Magistra artium.
In 1998 Monika Gaggia started her teaching activity at the Musikschulen in Bad Reichenhall and Mühldorf am Inn; since 2009 she is also teacher at the Max-Keller-Berufsfachschule für Musik in Altötting and she gives cello lessons at the Sing- und Musikschule Emertsham. Since 20 years she is involved with projects of the Inn-Salzach-Euregio-Jugendorchester as lecturer and teacher, promoting young musicians in Germany and Austria.
The main focus of her musical activity is and has always been the chamber music: e.g. with the pianists José-Daniel Martinez, Kristian Aleksic and Isabel von Jakubowski. In the field of contemporary music there is a close collaboration with Prof. Reinhard Febel and the Mozarteum Salzburg. With the Salonmusik Saitensprünge and the Quartetto con moto she dedicates herself to the genre of the somewhat forgotten Kaffeehausmusik.
Monika Gaggia is playing with many different project orchestras; 2015 she worked for one year as a coord. solo cello at the Bad Reichenhaller Philharmonie.
Music and Health (2010 – )
Through years of teaching Monika Gaggia gained intense experiences with e.g. sudden hearing loss, musical education of seniors, stroke patients, myatrophy, dyslexia, lefthandedness, burn-out and depression.
In order to learn more about music physiology hospitations followed in Würzburg with Dr. med. Maria Schuppert, Prof. Dr. med. Helmut Moeller und Prof. Dr. med. Alexander Schmidt in Berlin at the Kurt-Singer Institut and the Berliner Centrum für Musikermedizin. A close collaboration is also happening with Prof. Dr. Horst Hildebrandt and the Institut for Music Research in Zürich and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musikphysiologie und Musikermedizin.
In the medical field the RHÖN KLINIKUM Campus Bad Neustadt gave the possibility to do internships in various disciplines like psychosomatics (Prof. Dr. med. Martin Siepmann), hand surgery (Priv. Doz. Dr. med. Jörg van Schoonhoven, cardiology (Prof. Dr. med. Sebastian Kerber) and neurology (Prof. Dr. med. Dipl.-Psych. Matthias Keidel). Since 2018 Mag. art. Monika Gaggia is part of the consulting team of Prävention und Behandlung bei Musikern und Künstlern des RHÖN KLINIKUMS Campus Bad Neustadt.
In May 2017 she started together with Detlef Dressler (Meininger Hofkapelle) und Prof. Dr. med. Sebastian Kerber (Campus Bad Neustadt) the nationwide pilot project Gesundheit am Meininger Staatstheater, focusing of an exemplary way how the cooperation of two institutions can improve health conditions of all occupational groups of a theater.
Monika Gaggia is participating in yoga lessons for many years with Andrea Joesten (andreart | Experimental space for body awareness & relaxation. Fusion of personal experiences amongst others in the areas of yoga and dance) and there is a wide collaboration with physiotherapists, wellness trainer, dance- singing- and acting teachers and performance athletes.
In 2018 she gained her diplomas in Angewandte Musikphysiologie im künstlerischen Alltag (Universität der Künste Berlin) and Betriebliches Gesundheitsmanagement (AHAB Akademie Berlin/ Fachhochschule Sport & Management Potsdam and Bundesverband Betriebliches Gesundheitsmanagement).
Since 2019 Monika Gaggia is also a teacher of Dispokinesis of the Europäische Gesellschaft für Dispokinesis. This kind of body work after Gerrit Onne van de Klashorst helps musicians to unify posture, motion and musical expression. It’s a technic helping also with occurring anxiety and dystonia. 2020 Monika Gaggia become partner of the Zentrum für Berufsmusiker in Hamburg.