Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is one of the top opera addresses in the world – where you can enjoy the very best in first-class productions.

  

This famous stage offers a different program every day, with over 60 operas and ballet works on around 300 days per season.

150 years of the Vienna State Opera

The repertoire of the State Opera ranges from the Baroque to the 21st century, with a focus on the 19th century. The 2018/19 season is marked by a big anniversary: The Vienna State Opera celebrates "150 years of the Opera House on the Ring". On 25 May, 2019 there will be a ceremony and the premiere of Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow). This opera premiered here 100 years ago; Camilla Nylund, Nina Stemme, Evelyn Herlitzius, Stephen Gould and Wolfgang Koch now shine in the new production conducted by Christian Thielemann.

On May 26, everyone is invited to join in the celebration - at a festival on the square in front of the Opera House. In addition, there are two exhibitions (at the opera and in the Theatre Museum), streamings and a few other surprises.

Another five opera premieres are highlights of the season:

• Les Troyens / Hector Berlioz
• Die Weiden /Johannes Maria Staud (music), Durs Grünbein (text) – world premiere
• Lucia di Lammermoor / Gaetano Donizetti
• Orest / Manfred Trojahn
• Otello / Giuseppe Verdi

Audience members can individually switch on subtitles – in German, English, Italian, French, Russian and Japanese. The 2,021 displays at the seats also offer information about the cast and contents of the performance (German or English). By the way: The subtitles can be integrated manually by clicking a button, since all performances have different pacing.

Vienna Opera Ball: High point of the ball season

At the Vienna Opera Ball, the Vienna State Opera is transformed into the world’s most famous ballroom. The committee, consisting of approximately 150 pairs of young men and women in white ball gowns and tails, ensures a glamorous opening of the Opera Ball.

Opera live outdoors

In April, May, June, September and December, more than 80 opera and ballet performances will be screened live on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz in front of the opera building on a 50 m² screen - it's classical enjoyment for free!

  

Vienna. In the footsteps of famous musicians

Stroll through the music city of Vienna in the footsteps of the great composers: to places such as the original homes of Mozart and Schubert, to monuments, museums, to temples of music such as the Musikverein and the Vienna State Opera to the coffee house with piano music.

  

Joseph Haydn and his brother Michael received a comprehensive musical education at St. Stephen's Cathedral as choristers. Joseph Haydn got married in this cathedral, as did Mozart and Johann Strauss. Antonio Vivaldi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are entered in the cathedral's book of the deceased. In the House of the Teutonic Order, a memorial plaque bears witness to the fact that Mozart lived here in May 1781. Having been dismissed by his employer, he decided to live as a freelance artist from then on. The Mozarthaus Vienna and the House of Music are Vienna's leading musical worlds of experience.

Music lovers experience lively musical variety and exciting guided tours at the Wiener Konzerthausand at the Musikverein. The Theatre Museum presents stage history from the 17th century through to the present day. Mozart's Requiem was originally performed in St. Michael's Church; Haydn played the organ and lived next door on the top floor of the Grosses Michaelerhaus.

The Doblinger Music House is a treasure trove for sheet music seekers. The Vienna Boys' Choir can regularly be heard performing Mass in the Hofburg Chapel. The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments shows instruments played by Chopin, Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms and members of the imperial family. The Vienna State Opera is both an architectural jewel and one of the world's most important opera stages.

For those who fancy a detour: Beethoven lived in the Pasqualati House for eight years. Schubert's birth house is also preserved. And the Central Cemetery is home to the biggest complex of honorary graves in the world.

  

  

Classical music in Vienna

Every night in Vienna around 10,000 music fans are treated to live classical music, something that is simply unheard of in any other city in the world. Each year the Vienna concert schedule includes more than 15,000 events of various sizes and genres. Looking for the most magnificent concerts in Vienna? Here’s your ultimate overview. From the Wiener Musikverein, where the world-renowned New Year’s Concert takes place, to concerts that include dinners at Kursalon Hübner, we’ve got you covered.

  

Wiener Konzerthaus

Music lovers experience lively musical variety at the first-class music center that is the Wiener Konzerthaus. Leading performers of every genre are guests in the atmospheric Art Nouveau setting.

The musical range of the Wiener Konzerthaus covers not only the classical repertoire but also ranges from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque to Jazz and World as well as the progressives sounds of the present day.

Vienna Boys' Choir

They thrill the concert-going public around the world, are described as Vienna’s youngest ambassadors, and make music with world class musicians: the Vienna Boys' Choir. In Vienna, they regularly appear in their own concert hall "MuTh" and in the Hofburg Chapel.

In Vienna, it is often possible to hear the Vienna Boy's Choir: regularly as part of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle at the Holy Mass in the Hofburg Chapel on Sundays (September to June) and in the MuTh - that's their new concert hall in the Augarten, which opened in 2012. The name MuTh is an abbreviation of "Music and Theater" and its stage is home to daring music and theater productions. - A stage that offers a superb view for the 400 audience members and gives the actors almost as much space as the Vienna State Opera.

The MuTh is located right next to the Augartenpalais, where the Vienna Boys learn, live and sing. The new music center is a powerful cultural stimulus in the Augarten. The MuTh builds bridges: Between music and theater, tradition and experiment, great artists and - above all - the next generation.

Musikverein

The Musikverein is Vienna's most famous center for classical music. Going to a concert here is about getting to know Vienna as a city of music in a setting of the very finest quality. And musical greats such as the Vienna Philharmonic.

Millions of music lovers around the world know the Musikverein in Vienna as one of the most traditional concert houses there is, one that plays host to top-ranking artists. The building on Karlsplatz, not far from the magnificent Ringstrasse boulevard, is reminiscent of a temple, built according to a design by Theophil Hansen in 1807 in the historical style with columns, pediments and reliefs.

The Large Musikverein Hall, also called the "Golden Hall", is famous for its sumptuous decor. Apollo and the muses draw the eye to the ceiling, while the columns are designed as female figures of the ancient world. As incomparable as the look are the spatial acoustics - the sound experiences here are unique in the world. The New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic is broadcast to an international TV audience of millions from the Golden Hall each year. The Musikverein offers first-class concerts on the other 364 days of the year as well. However, it has long since ceased to be exclusively a temple of classical music.