Table of Contents
- Vienna Festival Music Events Calendar
- Vienna Festival – Sounds of Easter
- Opera for All
- Vienna Festival – Electric Spring
- Symphonic Open Air Concert
- Summer Night Concert
- Vienna Festival – Jazz Music
- Music Film Vienna Festival
- Vienna Summer Music Festival – Vienna KlangBogen
- Wien Modern Festival
- Requiem Mass
- Resonanzen Festival 2021
- Vienna Accordion Festival 2021
- Austrian Wind Music Festival
- The Vienna Popfest
- Related articles:
For Austrians, music is a tradition closest to their hearts. It is for this reason that the Vienna festival and Vienna events are held each year across the country.
They range from classical, jazz to modern contemporary and even electronic music.
Music is an important part of the Viennese culture. Vienna, being the capital of Austria, is well known for the many musicians it has produced since thousands of years ago.
Austria, in general, boasts of a rich history of world-renowned composers such as:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Joseph Haydn
- Franz Schubert
- Johann Strauss
Music lovers visiting Vienna would not be disappointed as they have varied choices when it comes to the Vienna events they can attend.
Vienna Festival Music Events Calendar
These Vienna festivals and concerts are held all throughout the year hence, there is always an opportunity to experience one or more of them.
Check out some of Vienna upcoming events for this and next year.
| Event | Date |
| Wiener Symphoniker at the MQ | June 25th, 2021 |
| Summer night concert | provisionally Sept 18, 2020 |
| The Vienna Jazz festival | June 23 – July 11, 2021 |
| Rathaus Film Festival | July 4 to Sept 6, 2020 |
| Popfest music festival | July 23-26, 2020 |
| Electric Spring music festival | not planned for 2020, but may return in 2021 |
| Wien Modern festival | Oct 29 – Nov 30, 2020 |
Vienna Festival – Sounds of Easter
This is one of the Vienna events and it’s called Osterklang. It’s a classical music festival that features international artists.
In 2016 (on its 20th year) this event took place during the Easter week in the Minorite Church. And it showcases a high-class musical program such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor.
Opera for All
It is a great experience to be able to watch an opera or operetta inside the Vienna State Opera. But it is also worth experiencing to watch performances in an al fresco setting, outside this grandiose building. You don’t always have to buy a ticket. That’s because you can watch the musical performance for free through a live LED video wall.
If the opera you want to watch is already sold out and only standing places are available, it would be best to simply watch it outside on Karajan-Platz free of charge. Each live broadcast accommodates 180 people. But be sure to come early so you can get a good seat with a good view.
Vienna Festival – Electric Spring
This is the electronic music festival that takes place in the museumsQuartier and is free to attend.
The Electric Spring event features top quality electronic music acts both indoors and outdoors.
Symphonic Open Air Concert
The Vienna Symphonic Open Air is considered one of Vienna’s best orchestras.
To be held on the historic Heldenplatz, the event will mark the anniversary of the surrender of the Nazi regime in 1945.
This concert is also aimed at promoting democracy and freedom in Austria.
Summer Night Concert
The Vienna Philharmonic will offer a night concert at the Schonbrunn Palace park. Known as the Summer Night Concert, this open-air event is free to attend.
This yearly concert held since 2004 is the Vienna Philharmonic’s way of allowing people in Vienna and the rest of the world to experience a unique musical performance.
Vienna Festival – Jazz Music
Vienna Jazz Festival is a famous musical activity held at the Vienna State Opera. And attended by music fans from the different parts of the world.
There are various performances (soul, funk, pop, electronic and ethnic sounds) in different venues and even in outdoor spaces.
Launched in 1991, this event is now considered as one of the world’s biggest and best jazz festivals.
Music Film Vienna Festival
The Rathausplatz in Vienna will host The Music Film Festival.
During the festival, locals, as well as national and international visitors, can enjoy free access to the program.
Activities include world-class musical productions covering classical, opera, jazz, and pop as well as high quality with full HD film screenings.
Vienna Summer Music Festival – Vienna KlangBogen
This summer event showcases top-quality operatic performances. Since 1997, the Theater an der Wien has played host to this yearly festival.
Running for a month from July to August, the event offers opera productions from the early to contemporary periods and classical concerts in the various parts of Vienna.
Among the performances that had been featured in the past included Don Quixote, La bohème and Dialogues des Carmélites.
Wien Modern Festival
This is the festival that highlights contemporary music and its development from around the world. It also features dance, performance, visual arts, film and video.
Wien Modern is first established back in 1988 and here’re the dates in 2020: Oct 29 – Nov 30
Each year, this event carries a theme and at Wien Modern Festival the 2020 theme will be “Stimmung”, which translates to atmosphere, vibe or mood.
Requiem Mass
To listen to Mozart’s famous requiem sounds, the St. Charles Borromeo church is the best place to visit.
The Baroque church with its spectacular dome and frescoes is where the Orchestra 1756 and the Heinrich Biber choir perform the Requiem usually every Saturday until the first week of December.
The orchestra alone already features more than 40 musicians playing on historical instruments.
Resonanzen Festival 2021
The Resonanzen Festival, an annual music festival since 1993, the classical music event showcases music from the Middle Age to the Baroque period. And features classical music performers from around the world.
Visit Resonanzen Festival: January 16-24, 2021
This year’s theme is “Frutti di mare” where audiences will be taken into fascinating cultural stories of the sea.
Resonanzen Festival in 2013
The venue for the 9-day music festival is the illustrious Konzerthaus with 11 concerts as well as a two-day exhibit of historical musical instruments.
As in the past years, the festival centers around a theme and this year’s theme is “Dream Journeys”. Audiences saw an interesting experience with music from Europe, China, India, Mexico, and the Middle East.
The festival started with performances by Le Poeme Harmonique from France, the Mexican Tembembe Ensamble Continuo with Jordi Savall and Italian music ensemble Concerto Romano. Another highlight of the festival was the Austrian production of the ballet opera “Les Indes Galantes”.
Middle Eastern music came alive with performances by Patrizia Bovi and the Ensemble Micrologus. While the Nomads of Rajasthan transported the audiences to exotic India with music and dancing. There will also be a reading by Peter Matic from the 17th century bestseller “Travel Description through Moscow and Persia” set to music by the Hamburg Ratsmusik.
And for Latin music lovers, there was the Cuban Conjunto de Musica Antigua Ara Longa who performed music from New Spain, New Granada and Peru.
During the weekend there was an exhibit at the hall where instrument makers from around the world will showcase their craft.
Vienna Accordion Festival 2021
The capital city of Austria does not run out of festivals every year. They cover musical concerts, operas and balls.
Estimated date – February 20, 2021 – March 21, 2021
Another festival that not many may have heard of is the Accordion Festival. This is a monthlong celebration of accordion music in all its forms with more than 50 concerts to be held.
Organized by Freidl Preisl, this event has been going on for almost two decades now. Thanks to this festival, the accordion has become more widely known. And much appreciated unlike before when it was simply considered a noisy and low-level musical instrument.
Accordion Festival in 2014
This year’s Internationales Akkordeon Festival will carry the theme “neighboring countries.” There were performances from various countries bordering Austria as well as workshop sessions, swing nights, film showing at the Film Casino. And musical story-telling session entitled “Magic Afternoon.”
Reports have it that the accordion originated in Austria. It is also considered a well known musical instrument used in folk music particularly in the eastern part of Europe where Vienna belongs.
According to Preisl, Vienna is fit to host this kind of festival because of its diverse culture and the people’s strong attraction to music.
Austrian Wind Music Festival
Music is a way of life in Vienna. Each day, musical performances are presented on the streets and in the opera houses.
Every year, music festivals of different kinds are also being organized in various parts of the city.
Austrian Wind Music Festival in 2013
The 34th Austrian Wind Music Festival took place in Vienna. There were 26 music bands that used wind musical instruments from all parts of Austria and from South Tyrol.
The festival kicked off on May 31st with a grand concert in the arcade courtyard of the Vienna City Hall at 7 p.m. This was a free concert but since seats are limited, one need to secure a ticket early at the City Information Centre.
The highlight of the Wind Music Festival is a joint parade with all bands participating. The parade started from Maria-Theresien-Platz via RingstraBe to Rathausplatz. In the evening of the same day, a joint concert featured some 1,200 musicians. The concert was directed by Professor Hans Schadenbauer.
Austrian history notes that in the past, an aristocratic patron would hire a Harmonie or an ensemble of wind instruments with five to eight players to perform outdoor or recreational music. In the 1750s, a Harmonie would include five instruments although the Harmonie compositions of Austrian musicians Haydn and Mozart used at least six instruments.
Today, the equivalent of Harmonie is the wind band which continues to exist in Europe.
The Vienna Popfest
For visitors, this is an excellent opportunity to experience Vienna summer music festival fun right and a taste of local culture right in the city.
In July 2012, Vienna celebrated pop music and organized the third Vienna Popfest from July 26 to July 29 at the Karsplatz. This concert was free for all music lovers and Vienna visitors.
The popfest opened singer Fatima Spark from Turkey together with her The Freedom Fries band. Spar is well known for her unique type of music which is mix of Balkan, Brass, Calypso, Swing and oriental music.
The duo Attwenger also was there to kick off the popfest. Their music is a blend of traditional folk, punk and hip-hop. Music fans also saw the launch of new musicians Welle Wien and many others. There was an evening dedicated to electronic music led by international star Patrick Pulsinger.
This was the best time to experience Austrian and international music artists in one event, in a span of four days. The open-air popfest was at Karlsplatz just in front of the Baroque St. Charles’ church.
The area was surrounded by other music venues and other important institutions such as:
- the Musikverein
- Vienna State Opera
- the Vienna Museum
- the Technical University
- the Kunsthalle project
Karlsplatz is often jampacked during this festival so it’s important to come early to get a good view of the stage they call as the Seebuhne or the Lake stage.
Visit this year’s Popfest, get your flight to Vienna.
