Plans are already well underway for a Johann Strauss year in Vienna in 2025, celebrating the 200th birthday of the King of the Waltz. Find relevant events and activities below.
- Strauss (the son) was born on October 25th, 1825
- Watch this space for 2025 events
- Browse concert experiences* in Vienna
- See also:
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. (Spoiler: I’ve never seen the Danube look blue.)
Vienna plans to pay 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 events as they cross my desk.
The city has, for example, set up a specialist company to organise the festivities. Two personalities familiar with Vienna’s music scene lead the Johann.Strauß-Festjahr 2025 GmbH.
(Simon Posch on the left, Roland Geyer on the right. That river you see out the window is actually an arm of the “Blue” Danube; press photo © Niko Havranek)
Roland Geyer, the former director of the Theater an der Wien, supervises the artistic side of things. Simon Posch, director of Vienna’s Haus der Musik, takes charge of the business side of things.
Plans?
Strauss 2025 already has an official website, and recent announcements suggest the events and activities will stretch across numerous media and genres, including music, dance, literature, theatre, exhibitions and installations, digital media, science,…the list goes on. Should be excellent.
Official events, for example, broadly fall into three categories:
- PUR: performances of original works
- MIX: fresh and artistic interpretations of Strauss’s work
- OFF: derivations, explorations and the unexpected
Scheduled events I’ve discovered so far include…
Theatermuseum special exhibition
The life and works of Strauss form the topics of a special exhibition at the Theatermuseum (December 4th, 2024 to June 23rd, 2025). Among the objects expected to appear: the original score for Die Fledermaus.
Thielemann conducts at the Musikverein
Concerts with Christiane Karg, Piotr Beczała, and the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Musikverein planned for March 29th and 31st, 2025.
Singing competition
(Press photo © Lena Zotti)
The first major announcement on the official side was a singing competition organised together with Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz.
Those with an affinity for operetta and all that participating in such productions demands had the chance to win significant prizes…and an opportunity to perform in a special May 8th, 2024 concert in Vienna.
That concert takes place at the MuTh concert venue, with tickets available for the public. Twelve finalists will perform together with the Strauss Festival Orchester.
In the meantime…
As we await further news, this page lists various locations in Vienna associated with Strauss’s life and music should you wish to follow in his footsteps.