Vienna: Mozart, Strauss and DJ Sounds

Night after night in Vienna, music fans are treated to live classical music. Over the year the Vienna concert schedule includes thousands of events of various sizes and genres. No other city has been home to so many composers – Mozart, Mahler, Haydn, Beethoven and Johann Strauss, the king of the Viennese waltz, all worked in the city. The Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Boys' Choir set the international tone, while the State Opera House and the Golden Hall at the Musikverein are among the world's leading venues. Traditional strengths endure to this day – the electronic sound pioneered by local musicians and leading DJs enjoys worldwide popularity.

Vienna is the world capital of music: The New Year's Concert by the Wiener Philharmoniker thrills millions of TV viewers in over 90 countries each year. The Vienna Boys' Choir, which has its own concert hall called "MuTh" in the Augarten, celebrates its success on every continent. And the Wiener Symphoniker causes a sensation. Vienna has two world class concert halls, the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. The city is also the ideal setting for a high-caliber range of festivals covering everything from ancient music at Resonanzen or contemporary compositions at Wien Modern. The Vienna Festival, the Vienna Jazz Festival and the Summer Nights concert by the Vienna Philharmonic are among the other program highlights. The stars of tomorrow can be seen at 1,300 events of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna – one of the best music universities in the world.

The world-famous Vienna State Opera offers performances 300 nights a year and a different billing virtually every day. The Theater an der Wien has established a name for itself as “the other” venue for opera and is noted for premieres ranging from baroque to contemporary. The Volksoper presents classic operas, lively operettas and countless musicals in German. Fans of musicals also entertain themselves at the Ronacher with "Der Glöckner von Notre Dame" (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and at the Raimund Theater with "Rebecca". In the summertime, enjoyment is celebrated every evening with free music films and a diverse culinary offering on City Hall Square.

Numerous music festivals are dedicated to specific genres just waiting to be discovered: The Accordion Festival presents the amazing diversity of the instrument, Vienna Blues Spring sets powerful impulses, the Africa Days present world music, and Wien im Rosenstolz the Wienerlied. The KlezMore Festival is all about Jewish klezmer music, the Vienna Jazzfloor invites visitors to 120 concerts in eleven of the city's clubs, while Voice Mania is totally committed to a-cappella music.

Such creative musical surroundings make Vienna a hotbed for contemporary musicians. Clubs such as Fluc, Pratersauna and Grelle Forelle play the electronic sound of local musicians such as Ogris Debris and HVOB, who also cause a sensation around the world. The musical styles are more diverse than ever. With Bilderbuch, Wanda and Co., a new generation of German-language pop has become established.

The pop festival brings the newest trends in Austrian music to the stage on Karlsplatz. The soundtrack for the Gürtel Nightwalk is laid down by bands at the vanguard of the indie and electronic scene. The Danube Island Festival, Europe's largest open-air festival with free admission, pulls in well over two million visitors each year with acts from a host of genres on the billing. Vienna's club festival Waves Vienna presents over 100 live acts between Alternative, Electronic and Rock on three days.

Music for all the senses

Every night great things happen on around 120 stages in the capital, and each year around 15,000 music events cover just about every genre imaginable. But music in Vienna is not just a pleasure for the ears – it brings all of the senses into play.

Hearing is the first to be reached by music, primarily at the capital's music theatres and concert halls. The sheer range is incredible – it is no accident that Vienna is fêted as the world's music capital. Opera fans will be treated to performances by some of the genre's biggest names at the Vienna State Opera. Although the only venue in the city dedicated to the light-hearted, colorful and enthralling world of operetta, the Volksoper also hosts its fair share of operas, musicals and ballets. The Theater an der Wien, the city's newest opera house, focuses on high-end Baroque and contemporary opera with modern sets. Mozart's works are a regular fixture. It follows a stagione (Italian for season) system with premieres almost every month, as well as concerts and dance performances.

Fans of classical music can listen to some of the best musicians in the world perform live, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Wiener Symphoniker and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna. And there are a variety of festivals which focus on specific musical genres, right the way through to the present day. The city's two main stages for musicals, the Raimund Theater and Ronacher, are another pair of entertainment hotspots.

Talking of opera houses...

Enjoying music in Vienna is about much more than pleasure for the ears – there is also plenty for the eyes to feast on: it's well worth taking a closer look at the capital's music venues. The Vienna State Opera is a gem of Neo-renaissance architecture, even though it was initially dubbed a “sunken crate” and “supine elephant” by some when it opened in 1869, in response to its low positioning relative to the Ringstrasse. A guided tour gives a fascinating glimpse into life behind the scenes at the world's largest repertory opera house: starting at the foyer, it takes in the grand staircase, the state rooms (the Tea Salon, Marble Hall, Schwind Foyer, and the Gustav Mahler Hall), and the auditorium with views of the stage.

A tour of the Musikverein is equally recommended. Opened in 1870, the crowning glory of this historicist temple to the muses is the Golden Hall, which has superb acoustics as well as the honor of being one of the world's most attractive concert venues. It is here that the Vienna Philharmonic gives its annual New Year's Concert.

Aficionados can also pay house calls to see the charming original apartments owned by some of the great geniuses of the ages. Well and truly out in the suburbs in his day, Haydn's modest house has long since been subsumed by the growing city, with busy shopping street Mariahilfer Strasse now just around the corner. Johann Strauss's apartment still exudes cosmopolitan style, and the Mozarthaus Vienna in the heart of the old town has been expanded and transformed into a Mozart experience. The Beethoven Museum, which opened in 2017, is dedicated to the great composer's 35 years in Vienna. Accredited Vienna tour guides offer a wide variety of guided tours on various musical themes, with no end of anecdotes thrown in for good measure. But anyone that prefers to go it alone can follow the descriptions that accompany the city's musician walks.

Beautifully crafted instruments once played at the imperial court by musicians such as Beet-hoven and Chopin are preserved for posterity in the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments in the Hofburg – a veritable treasure trove for music lovers. The zither on which Anton Karas played the score for silver screen classic The Third Man is another of the attractions.

At Madame Tussauds at the Prater visitors can rub shoulders with musicians past and present. Stars of the 3D waxwork show include Mozart, Elvis, Falco, Freddie Mercury, Udo Jürgens, Michael Jackson, Conchita Wurst, Christina Stürmer, panda-mask-wearing rapper Cro and Katy Perry.

Feel the music

Rhythm, beat, sound, melody – the ingredients that make up music trigger make themselves felt in every sense of the word. Such as when clubbers feel the deep bass sounds run through their bodies on a night out. Dancing like there is no tomorrow is all the rage at the capital's discos, clubs and festivals. But dance partners can also tune in to the music on a different level at Viennese balls where the waltz, foxtrot, jive and samba set the scene. An experience for all the senses!

The only thing missing is a music-related taste sensation: but even that angle is covered thanks to the mighty Mozartkugel confectionery which has taken the world by storm with a taste of Mozart, in name at the very least. It is easy to see why the Mozart brand is valued at around EUR 5 billion – everyone knows Mozart. And a lot of people love chocolate, nougat and marzipan. Not to be outdone, the King of the Viennese Waltz lends his name to the Johann Strauss Taler chocolate coins. Many other musical geniuses live on in chocolates or have lent their names to a wealth of cakes, pastries, liqueurs and schnapps. And why not?

Mythos Mozart: Multimedia Experience at the Place of Mozart's Death

The interactive, virtual Mythos Mozart experience opens on September 16, in the very spot that Mozart composed The Magic Flute and his Requiem – and where he died in 1791 (now Kärntner Strasse 19, basement level of the Steffl department store). Mozart lived in Vienna for ten years – a period which was also his most prolific.  

The multimedia encounter with the musical genius is set up as a 60-minute round tour, which gets under way with Mozart's Requiem – in a space where 1,500 candles, silhouette projection and sounds create an almost religious experience. A painted, animated 360-degree panorama showing what the city looked like in the composer's day dominates the second room: Mozart's Vienna. Mozart's World of Music has a much more hands-on focus, while Mozart's Genius turns the spotlight on his creativity. The tour concludes with a series of fantastic digital images in the Mozart Forever room. 

Back to the 18th century thanks to technology: the magic world was made possible by an international team of experts and artists. Contributions range from works by the lighting designer Moritz Waldemeyer to poetic animations that transport visitors to the historical Vienna of 1791. Other highlights include an installation by the Los Angeles-based new-media artist Refik Anadol, who uses artificial intelligence to distill Mozart-centric images and data into digital visual worlds. The experience uses 50 special projectors, a dozen large-format screens, around 200 loudspeakers and an innovative sound system. The combination of music, performing arts, architecture and technology – all elaborately stage managed – gives Mythos Mozart its unique appeal. 

And the soundtrack was made in Vienna. The music for the project was recorded and engineered by students from the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (second place in the 2022 QS World University Rankings). Mythos Mozart's ambassadors are star tenor Rolando Villazón, Belgian soprano and model Elise Caluwaerts, and virtuoso violinist Aleksey Igudesman. Mythos Mozart is the fruit of a collaboration involving the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, the Berlin State Library, the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, the Mozarthaus Vienna and the Wien Museum.  

Address: 1st district, Kärntner Strasse 19, www.mythos-mozart.com