Johann Strauss celebrates his 200th birthday in 2025 and Vienna honours the King of the Waltz with a year’s worth of activities.
- Strauss (the son) was born on October 25th, 1825
- Events across 2025 at 69 locations
- See below for selected highlights
- Find a Strauss concert* for your trip
- See also:
- Strauss locations in Vienna
- Johann Strauss Museum
- House of Strauss exhibition & concert venue
- The Strauss apartment
Birthday celebrations
(The plaque at the location where Strauss was born in 1825)
Few composers are so intimately associated with one city as Johann Strauss II, who gave Vienna its unofficial anthem (The Blue Danube) and whose music features in evening concerts throughout the city and balls throughout the world.
(In the interests of accuracy, I feel obliged to point out that the river’s not always blue.)
Anyway, Vienna pays tribute to its musical son in 2025 with a festival year of activities in celebration of his 200th birthday.
I’ll use this page to inform you of relevant news and details of significant events.
Plans & highlights
(The official Johann Strauss 2025 programme publication; press photo © Christian Jobst)
The city set up a specialist company (Johann.Strauss-Festjahr2025 GmbH) to organise the festivities, led by two personalities familiar with Vienna’s music scene: Roland Geyer (former director of the Theater an der Wien) and Simon Posch (director of Vienna’s Haus der Musik).
Events and activities take place at around 69 locations and stretch across numerous media and genres: music, dance, literature, theatre, exhibitions and installations, digital media, science,…the list goes on.
Official events broadly fall into three categories:
- PUR: performances of original works or homages to the man
- MIX: fresh and artistic interpretations of Strauss’s work
- OFF: derivations, explorations and the unexpected
Strauss 2025 has an official website with full programme details, and I list some highlights and other related events below as they cross my path…
At the time of writing…
New museum
(The timely arrival of a new exhibition)
A Johann Strauss Museum opened in early November, 2024. The multimedia, immersive and interactive exhibition inside offers a full tribute to the life, times and music of the maestro.
I found it a nice mix of entertainment and information delivered for a modern audience and can certainly recommend a visit.
Theatermuseum special exhibition
(Palais Lobkowitz houses the Theatermuseum and has its own Beethoven connection: his third symphony premiered there, for example))
The life and works of Strauss form the topics of a special exhibition at the Theatermuseum (December 4th, 2024 to August 17th, 2025).
I rather enjoyed the exhibition, which has numerous delightful items on show…not least the original score for the famous Die Fledermaus operetta.
Concerts
(The Musikverein hosts some prominent concerts)
Expect plenty of these over and above the usual array of Strauss and Mozart-themed evenings in Vienna’s historical venues. For example:
- A memorial concert for Strauss at the Musikverein on January 19th, 2025 featured conductor Oksana Lyniv and the ORF RSO Wien orchestra
- Franz Welser-Möst conducted Christiane Karg, Piotr Beczała, and the Wiener Philharmoniker (also at the Musikverein) on March 29th and 30th, 2025 with a Strauss-related programme of music and song from the operettas
Back to the Fledermaus…
A wide programme around Strauss’s many operettas included Fledermaus Day on April 5th, 2025 in celebration of his most well-known operetta. The MuseumsQuartier hosted various activities on that date, including a special performance of the work by the Janoska Ensemble and soprano Daniela Fally.
Look for operetta performances in classic productions as well as new adaptations throughout the year.
I look forward particularly to Anna Bernreitner bringing Strauss to the entire city: she puts on an open-air performance of a mobile version of Indigo und die 40 Räuber in each of Vienna’s 23 districts from June 1st to June 23rd, 2025 (a collaboration with the WE ARE WIEN.FESTIVAL.)
(Die Fledermaus premiered at Theater an der Wien back in 1874)
Imaginative ideas
A co-production between theaternyx* and the Zeitwalzer theater project takes you on a journey through four centuries and above Vienna: theatrical performances take place on one day a month throughout the year in the wagons of the famous Riesenrad.
Move over Orson Welles, Strauss has arrived.
Contemporary art crafted in light appeared in the Stadtpark from March 21st to May 25th, 2025: media artist Victoria Coeln brought seven female figures from the Strauss operettas to life with the help of augmented reality.
Over to the park in front of the Rathaus, where July 5th, 2025 has numerous different orchestras spread about the area performing open-air Strauss as part of the Summa Cum Laude international youth music festival.
We even have a Strauss-flavoured escape room created by artist Deborah Sengl in collaboration with the Time-Busters.
(The giant ferris wheel hosts theatrical performances)
And, to add a sweet touch to my selection of highlights…we have Strauss ice cream and had a Strauss ice cream week from April 28th to May 4th.
Expect to see special varieties in celebration.
At the 2025 ice cream season opening, for example, the Eissalon am Schwedenplatz announced in-house alternatives that include a Fledermaus champagne gelato and a blue Stracciatella ice cream with golden glitter in honour of the Blue Danube waltz.
A Strauss marathon of a different kind
The Vienna marathon took place on April 6th, 2025, and various Strauss-related activities accompanied the runners. For example, participants could join a giant waltz at the start in the hopes of breaking a world record. And they succeeded!
Film competition
(Strauss film competition; press photo © Vienna Shorts)
The Vienna Shorts film festival and Johann Strauss Festjahr 2025 recently looked for short films with a modern interpretation of Strauss’s most famous waltz (entry submission closed on January 5th, 2025).
The best shorts were presented at a gala event on May 28th, 2025, and will play at the 2025 Rathausplatz Film Festival.
Get closer to Strauss…
Finally, this page lists various locations in Vienna associated with Strauss’s life and music should you wish to follow in his footsteps.