The Konzerthaus is a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

located in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and innovative musical styles. In 1890, the first ideas for a ''Haus für Musikfeste'' (House for music festivals) came about. The idea of the new multi-purpose building was to be more interesting to the broader public than the traditional Vienna

Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...

. In addition to the concert hall, the first drawings by Ludwig Baumann for the ''Olympion'' included an ice-skating area and a bicycle club. In an attached open air area, 40,000 visitors would be able to attend events. Although the drawings were not accepted, today an ice skating area is situated right next to the building. The Konzerthaus was finally built between 1911 and 1913. The architects were Fellner & Helmer; the work was done in cooperation with Ludwig Baumann.

Performance facilities

The building is about 70×40 meters and had originally three halls, in which there can be simultaneous concerts, since they are sound-proofed. The original

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

building was partly destroyed during renovations and adaptions, but the building was reconstructed from original sketches in the 1970s. A historic

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

was installed in the Konzerthaus by the Austrian firm Rieger in 1913. Between 1997 and 2000 the house was completely renovated. *Großer Saal, with 1,840 seats *Mozartsaal, with 704 seats *Schubertsaal, with 336 seats *Berio Saal was added during the latest renovations and seats up to 400 people

Program

The Konzerthaus has the Vienna Symphony, the

Vienna Chamber Orchestra The Vienna Chamber Orchestra (Wiener Kammer Orchester, or WKO) is an Austrian chamber orchestra based at the Vienna Konzerthaus. History The WKO was founded in 1946, and its first artistic directors were Franz Litschauer, Heinrich Hollreiser, ...

, the Wiener Singakademie and the Klangforum Wien in residence. Several subscriptions also include concerts by the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

and other organizations. The ''Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft'' also conducts several festivals during the year: *Early Music Festival ''Resonanzen'' in January *the Vienna Spring Festival ''Wiener Frühlingsfestival'' in April and May *the ''Internationale Musikfest'' in May and June *
Wien Modern
' in the Fall

Directors

* Hugo Botstiber (1913-1938) * Armin Caspar Hochstetter (1938-1945) * Friedrich Reidinger (1940-1945) (representing Hochstetter, excused for military service) * Egon Seefehlner (1946–1961) * Peter Weiser (1961–1977) * Hans Landesmann (1978–1984) * Alexander Pereira (1984–1991) * Karsten Witt (1991–1996) * Christoph Lieben-Seutter (1996–2007) * Bernhard Kerres (2007–present)

History

The Historic Concert for the Benefit of Widows and Orphans of Austrian and Hungarian Soldiers was held at the Konzerthaus on January 12, 1918. Its patrons were Kaiser

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

and Empress Zita, with posters designed by Josef Divéky.

Bibliography

*Barta, Erwin, ''Das Wiener Konzerthaus zwischen 1945 und 1961. Eine vereinsgeschichtliche und musikwirtschaftliche Studie''. Schneider, Tutzing 2001

External links