Vienna: City of Music

Source: Quanjing

Vienna: Mozart, Strauss and DJ Sounds

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. 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 world-famous Vienna State Opera offers performances almost 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 Raimund Theater with "I Am From Austria" and at the Ronacher with "Dance of the Vampires". 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 disovered: The Accordion Festival presents the amazing diversity of the instrument, Vienna Blues Spring is the world’s longest-running blues festival, 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 a hundred concerts in nine 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 Flex, 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 party – pulls in around three 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. More: www.vienna.info