In principle, the season in the three big opera houses in Vienna normally runs from September to June, with (obviously) a two-month summer break in July and August.
Announced programmes may, of course, be subject to change should, for example, public health issues demand it. Check for updates from the houses directly.
The 2021/2022 seasons
At the Staatsoper
Vienna’s State Opera House jostles with the Met, La Scala and others at the top of the world rankings for opera venues.
The 2021/2022 season begins on September 3rd, 2021, with a performance of Puccini’s Tosca (Puccini also opened the previous season). It ends, unusually, in early July with a Rossini gala on the 8th.
The planned highlights include Staatsoper premières of five productions. These are:
- Herbert Fritsch’s production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, which has its première on September 28th, 2021
- A new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni under the aegis of Barrie Kosky, which premières on December 5th, 2021
- Simon Stone’s production of Wozzeck by Alban Berg premières on March 21st, 2022
- Calixto Bieito’s production of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, which makes its first appearance on April 14th, 2022
- Tom Morris directs Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, with the première on June 11th, 2022
Other highlights include:
- Cecilia Bartoli makes her first full appearance at the Staatsoper in a special week at the end of the season celebrating Rossini, including productions of Il turco in Italia and La Cenerentola (June 28th, July 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th)
- Both José Carreras and Plácido Domingo will appear for the last time on the Staatsoper stage this season, the former at a farewell gala on September 14th, the latter on November 15th
- Numerous other top names make appearances. For example, Anna Netrebko in Nabucco and Elina Garanča in Adriana Lecouvreur
At the Volksoper
The Volksoper 2021/2022 opera season begins on September 1st with Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. It ends on June 30th with the same production, giving the season a lovely operatic symmetry.
Five opera productions enjoy a première at the main house:
- Paul Abraham’s football-themed operetta, Roxy und ihr Wunderteam, gets a timely première on September 11th, 2021 (just weeks after the end of the European Championships) in a production by Andreas Gergen
- Josef Ernst Köpplinger’s production of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauß first rolls into town on October 31st, 2021
- Peter Konwitschny directs Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, with the première on January 15th, 2022
- The Volksoper actually hosted the world première of Zemlinsky’s Clothes Make the Man (Kleider machen Leute) back in 1910. March 27th, 2022, sees the première of the production under the experienced supervision of Alfred Eschwé
- David McVicar’s production of Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice two-act opera premières on May 14th, 2022
At the Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien 2021/2022 opera season begins with the première of Robert Carsen’s production of Emilio de’ Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo on September 19th and ends with Ottmar Gerster’s Enoch Arden in the Kammeroper on June 11th and a special event in honour of Roland Geyer, who leaves his post as director of the Theater an der Wien this season, on June 21st.
New production highlights at the main house include:
- Barbora Horáková’s production of Alfredo Catalani’s La Wally, which premières on November 12th, 2021
- Keith Warner gives us his production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, with the first performance on December 14th, 2021
- We can enjoy Puccini’s Tosca through the eyes of Martin Kušej, director of the famous Burgtheater. His production premières on January 18th, 2022
- Lotte de Beer’s production of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa first appears on the stage on February 16th, 2022