Maria Stodtmeier spent two years working for the LiteraturWERKstatt Berlin after leaving school. The experience she gained as production assistant for the millennium project “Literature Express Europe 2000”, a railway odyssey all across Europe in the company of 100 authors, prompted her to embark on a course of cultural studies in Potsdam focussing on post-colonial studies and literature and encompassing periods of study in Hungary and Spain. Alongside her studies, she worked for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Vienna, helping to prepare and organise a total of 12 large-scale tours by the orchestra under conductors like Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez and Ivan Fischer. In 2006, the fascinating impressions she gained on a journey to Venezuela spawned the idea for the cinema documentary El Sistema“ (Grand Prix Golden Prague, et al.), which she co-directed with Paul Smaczny. Since the establishment of the ACCENTUS Music company, Maria has been involved in the enterprise as author, director and producer, supporting the team in the sectors project development and realisation of classical concert recordings and documentaries.