Vienna Opera House

The opera and the Vienna Opera house are a firm part of Vienna culture. A bad premiere at the opera, for example, gets almost the same air time on Austrian TV as natural disasters, murder, and presidential elections.

Few visitors know that Vienna has four opera houses. The Vienna Opera House (Vienna State Opera) is the most famous, powered by probably the world's best opera orchester and opera choir, not to speak of a range of world famous singers such as Plácido Domingo, Edita Gruberova, and Anna Netrebko. It is also reported to be the opera house with the biggest repertory in the world.

Booking Vienna Opera Tickets

For centuries and on almost 300 evenings every year the Vienna Opera House has been staging performances for thousands of Viennese and visitors from abroad. Plays at the Vienna Opera continue to sell out fast as they add that extra sparkle to Vienna's social life. See my tips for booking Vienna Opera tickets and enjoying a performance. If you are interested in baroque operas, do also check Vienna's youngest opera house, the Theater an der Wien, a centre of excellence for this genre.

Vienna Opera For Children

If you have kids, take them to the Vienna Opera for children which takes place in a large tent right on the roof of the Opera House (see the tent between the two statues of horse riders in the photo above).

Vienna Opera Tour

Few people know that they can tour the opera house without having to buy tickets for a performance. The Vienna opera tour is a one hour guided tour through the opera house. You will see rooms which are usually closed to the public, such as the gorgeous Emperor's tearoom, learn about famous opera directors, from Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler to Herbert von Karajan.

The Opernball

The opera house also stages the famous Vienna Opera Ball, which attracts almost 6,000 visitors every year. Learn more about the Vienna Opernball and how to book tickets in my selection of the best Vienna balls.

Famous Opera Singers At The Vienna Opera House

The Vienna Opera House hosts some of the worlds greatest opera singers. Here is a list of 10 of the best opera singers worldwide who also sing at the Vienna Opera House. Some of them are members of the Vienna opera. I have pulled this list together in alphabetical order, using various inofficial lists and rankings. It is by no means prescriptive but should reflect the calibre of soloists that you can hear in Vienna.

Roberto Alagna (tenor)
The French-Italian tenor, married to Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, has been singing at international opera houses for more than twenty years, and has major roles in operas such as Madama Butterfly, Aida and Romeo et Juliette under his belt. Roberto Alagna is a regular guest at the Vienna Opera House where he first performed as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore in 1992. In 2006, Alagna created outrage when he left the stage of Milan's Scala opera in the middle of a performance, following whistles and boohs' when his voice temporarily failed in an aria. From September 2012, you can see Roberto Alagna in the main role in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo (in Italian).

Agnes Baltsa (mezzo soprano)
Singing for more than 40 years at the Vienna State Opera, Greek opera singer Agnes Baltsa is a local veteran with an international track record at all the big opera houses of the world. You may know her from her most famous performance of Carmen in George Bizet's opera. She has performed in operas like Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosí fan tutte, Il Barbiere di Seviglia, Aida, Il Trovatore, and Die Fledermaus.
My tip: Enjoy Agnes Baltsa in her role as Elektra in Richard Strauss' opera in June 2012 in Vienna.
Dates: 18th, 21st, 25th, 28th June
Get tickets for Elektra

Charles Castronovo (tenor)
American Charles Castronovo is one of the younger international shooting stars among opera singers. He performed along side Plácido Domingo and is touring opera houses from the New York Met and the Royal Opera House in London (Covent Garden) to the Vienna State Opera. Among his more than two dozen repertory operas are The Magic Flute, Romeo et Juliette, Faust, Don Pasquale and Falstaff.

Diana Damrau(soprano)
The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute is German opera singer Diana Damrau's most often performed role, among other major roles in operas like Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Fledermaus. The Vienna State Opera is a regular among her assignments at international opera houses. In 2012, you can see her in Vienna as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor

Plácido Domingo (tenor)
Does Plácido Domingo need any further introduction? Probably not. His track record at the Vienna State Opera comprises Wagner's Lohengrin, Verdi's Il Trovatore, and most recently Simon Boccanegra (September 2011), not to forget his famous Christmas in Vienna concert series where he performed along side pop music legends such as Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick.

Renée Fleming (soprano)
The American soprano is another of the international shooting stars with regular performances in Vienna. Renée Fleming is best known for her roles in the operas Le Nozze di Figaro, Manong, La Traviata, Der Rosenkavalier and Rusalka. She has won the Grammy three times, among them the Grammy 2010 for Best Classical Vocal Performance.

Elína Garanča (mezzo soprano) born 1976 in Riga, Latvia; BBC's Cardiff Singer of the World 2001; international assignments from the New York Met to Tokyo; member of the Vienna Opera House since 2003, where she sang operas like Il Barbiere di Seviglia, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosí fan tutte, Rosenkavalier, and Die Fledermaus. In 2012, you can see her in operas such as La Clemenza di Tito.

Edita Gruberova (soprano)
Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova's career is closely linked with the Vienna Opera House, where she made he debut in 1970 as Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute. The Wiener Kammersaengerin (honorary title) emigrated from former communist Czechoslovakia to the West in the early Seventies, and has performed at all the major opera houses in the world, in operas such as Manon, Lucrezia Borgia and Rigoletto.
My tip: Watch and listen to Edita as Elisabeth I, Queen of England, in Roberto Devereux

Dmitri Hvorostovski
The Russian/Siberian singer not only dominates many of the world's renown opera houses but also inspires contemporary composers who dedicate oeuvres to him. Dmitri Hvorostovsky bagged prestigious awards like the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World (1989) and has excelled in operas such as Il Trovatore, Eugene Onegin, Simon Boccanegra and Rigoletto.

Anna Netrebko (soprano) The Russian soprano has been lauded the 'Audrey Hepburn with a voice' first opera singer ever to join the TIME 100 list, TIME magazine's list of the most influential people in the world; sang first at the Vienna Opera House in 2003; international assignments in all major opera houses of the world; extensive range of CD recordings; her repertoire includes Le Nozze di Figaro, La Traviata, La Boheme, Don Pasquale and L'elisir d'amore.

Who Leads The Vienna Opera?

The opera house is led by two internationally renown opera and musical experts:

Dominique Meyer, Director of the Opera: born in the French Alsace, was a.o. consultant of the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang and previously Director of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. He has been leading the Vienna Opera House since the summer of 2010.

Franz Welser-Möst, General Musical Director, born in Linz, Austria, was a.o. General Musical Director of the Opera House in Zurich. He has been Chief Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra since 2002 and has joined the Vienna State Opera as its General Musical Director in 2010. His repertoire comprises more than 60 operas.

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