Preview spring/summer 2025
The year 2025 brings us the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II. To mark the occasion in style, the City of Vienna has come up with a kaleidoscope of cultural events assembling a total of 60 specially designed productions at 30 different locations across the city: from classical concerts to non-classical performances, operettas to theatre productions, dance to circus, installations to exhibitions, cinema to science.
Top-flight performers from all the arts will be joining us to celebrate Vienna’s light-hearted genius with literally unheard-of projects. Give us the pleasure of your company!
Roland Geyer, intendant
Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna
01.01.2025 – 00:00 KONZERTHAUS VIENNA
Midnight, New Year’s Eve
No one ushers in the New Year like Johann Strauss. And in 2025, of course, there’ll be nothing routine about the programme. Midnight sharp in the Konzerthaus, Nikolaus Habjan will be whistling a host of surprise guests together to start off the year’s festivities in spanking style.
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Petr Popelka
A JOST25 concert in conjunction with the Konzerthaus
19.01.2025 MUSIKVEREIN VIENNA
Down memory lane
In January 1900, a special memorial concert took place in honour of Johann Strauss. In 2025 a revival will bring that concert back to life and celebrate the diversity of Strauss’ music.
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra & Vienna Singverein – Conductor: Oksana Lyniv, Soloists: Anna Prohaska, Miriam Kutrowatz, Anna Lucia Richter & Johannes Bamberger
A JOST25 concert
27.01.2025 KONZERTHAUS VIENNA
tritsch tratsch
Johann Strauss II – greatest hits / a remix
For this premiere, Wolfgang Mitterer has selected 19 Strauss evergreens, combining, overwriting and re-orchestrating them complete with punchy keyboard samples. An instrumental extravaganza to watch, swing along with and dance to.
A production by Klangforum Vienna in collaboration with JOST25 and Konzerthaus Vienna
29.03.2025 MUSIKVEREIN VIENNA
Operetta pastiche
Along with Christiane Karg, Piotr Beczała and the Vienna Philharmonic, Christian Thielemann explores the world of Johann Strauss’ operettas. The intriguing jubilee programme combines timeless favourites with little-known gems.
A JOST25 concert in conjunction with Musikverein Vienna
07.05.2025 MUSIKVEREIN VIENNA
“Temperament, joie de vivre …”
Soprano Marie Geistinger was Strauss’ star performer in his first four operettas. Modern-day diva Diana Damrau sings arias from Geistinger’s Strauss repertoire, garnished with rarely heard orchestral pieces from the respective operettas.
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Conductor: Ernst Theis
A JOST25 concert
22.02.2025 THEATER AN DER WIEN
The Carnival in Rome
Concert performance of Johann Strauss’ second operetta. Nikolaus Habjan fills us in on the gender jumbles that make the plot just a tiny bit confusing.
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Patrick Hahn
Soloists: Vera-Lotte Boecker, Daniele Fally, Benjamin Bruns, Paul Schweinester, David Körber, Adrian Eröd and others
A production by JOST25 in conjunction with the Aalto Music Theatre Essen
STARTING 25.03.2025 MQ – HALLE E
The Edge of the World or the “Gypsy Baron”
Music theatre after the operetta by Johann Strauss, updated by Andreas Schett and Markus Kraler, libretto by Roland Schimmelpfennig.
First performed in 1885, Strauss’ operetta was an immediate success. In musical terms, it is one of his most ambitious works. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the work undergoes a musical and literary updating of its highly controversial subject matter, pointing up the tensions beneath the surface and situating them in a present-day context.
Franui „extended“, Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Conductor: Andreas Schett
Stage director: Nuran David Calis
A JOST25 production
World premiere
25. – 28.04.2025 MQ – HALLE E
Waldmeister (Woodruff)
This Strauss operetta is all about getting things sorted out, not just affairs of the heart but also botanical classifications. Is there such a thing as black woodruff? No? Yes? Into the punch-bowl it goes, colour immaterial. And fear not, true love will prevail!
Guest performance by the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich, commissioned by JOST25
STARTING 10.08.2025 SCHLOSSTHEATER SCHÖNBRUNN
Vienna Blood
Based on the Vienna Blood waltz of 1873, Strauss’ operetta of the same name, put together in 1899, was destined to become an all-time favourite. To this day, it has transported the magic of Vienna to the rest of the world. With his ingenious staging, young star director Nikolaus Habjan has what it takes to bring out all its humour and fantasy.
A JOST25 production, in co-production with Aalto Music Theatre, Essen
PREVIEW AUTUMN 2025 VOLKSOPER
A Night in Venice
The Volksoper says “happy anniversary” with a swashbuckling new staging of the carnival razzmatazz at the Lido in Venice. A Night in Venice may be the most sheerly captivating and uncomplicated of all Strauss’ operettas and extends an irresistible invitation to join in the light-hearted celebrations.
Cinderella
A new operetta for the whole family based on Johann Strauss’ unfinished ballet Aschenbrödel.
World premiere
Two productions by the Volksoper Vienna
STARTING 25.01.2025 ODEON
Thunder and Lightning
A new stage production by Jacqueline Kornmüller. Milena Michiko Flašar answers Johann Strauss’ letters to Olga Smirnitskaya, with music by Johanna Doderer and Johann Strauss.
Very little would be known about Johann Strauss’ infatuation with the young composer Olga Smirnitskaya if it weren’t for his 100 passionate love letters and an unusual waltz with covert allusions to the clandestine love affair between Olga and Johann.
World premiere by wenn es soweit ist and JOST25
STARTING 25.02.2025 RABENHOF THEATRE
Operaball
Waltzes, Wines and Rich Men’s Paunches
A feature by Stefanie Sargnagel with live music inspired by the life and works of Johann Strauss, arranged for the stage by Christina Tscharyiski and Fabian Pfleger.
World premiere by Rabenhof Theatre, co-production with JOST25
STARTING 01.03.2025 REAKTOR
You Millions, I Embrace You
A utopian ball and a futuristic dance to the music of time
Strauss’ waltz Seid umschlungen Millionen (You Millions, I Embrace You) is the starting point for an opulent gala ball. Music and dance unite to produce a Gesamtkunstwerk titillating all the senses.
Artistic directors: Chris Haring, Liquid Loft
Music: Andreas Berger and the PHACE ensemble
A production by Liquid Loft, commissioned by JOST25 in conjunction with REAKTOR
STARTING15.03.2025 VOLKSTHEATER VIENNA
Villa Orlofsky
With actors from the Volkstheater ensemble and a great line-up of singers, director Paul-Georg Dittrich concocts a mixture of spoken drama and music theatre that transcends conventional boundaries. All the big tunes from Strauss’ Fledermaus are overwritten with ultramodern instruments, live electronics collides head-on with classical strings and winds.
World premiere by Volkstheater Vienna in conjunction with JOST25
STARTING 10.04.2025 MQ – HALLE G
ROMAbaron
Theatre performance with music, based freely on Johann Strauss’ G* Baron
A continuation of the operetta from the perspective of Saffi, a young Romni.
World premiere by Theaterkollektiv Hybrid in conjunction with JOST25 and Tanzquartier Vienna
Tickets
Tickets are already on sale for selected events. The link “Tickets available here” tells you which ones they are. Act now to get good seats for the event(s) of your choice.
JANUARY – DECEMBER 2025
MQ – ESCAPE ROOM – TIME BUSTERS LOCATION
Shadows of doubt – In the mind of a genius
Artist Deborah Sengl’s remarkable new Escape Room enables us to join the Time Busters and embark on an engagement with the inner and outer life of a creative artist, based on Johann Strauss as an historical personality. The production also sets out to encourage reflection on our own desires, longings and apprehensions.
Time Busters, commissioned by JOST25
JANUARY – DECEMBER 2025 BIG WHEEL PRATER VIENNA
Time Waltz
A journey in time, back to the 19th century and forwards to the 2100s, in gondolas of the Big Wheel in the Prater amusement park. Vienna in Strauss’ time was a different city from what it is today. And in five or six generations it will be completely different again. Time Waltz is an invitation to float high over the city, revel in the music of Johann Strauss and dream of a better future for us all.
A co-production by theaternyx* and JOST25
World premiere
STARTING 15 FEBRUARY 2025 DIANABAD WATER PARK
Nesterval’s “Princess Ninetta”
An immersive theatre experience by NESTERVAL based on Johann Strauss’ operetta Princess Ninetta with echoes of the Blue Danube waltz.
World premiere by NESTERVAL, commissioned by JOST25
21 MARCH – 20 MAY 2025 STADTPARK VIENNA
Illuminations
The music of Johann Strauss bathes Vienna in resplendent light. Proceeding from the gleaming gold of the Strauss monument, internationally renowned media artist Victoria Coeln will be celebrating the arrival of spring with a lightscape extending far out into the Stadtpark. Augmented Reality will enable us to encounter seven female figures from the cosmos of the Strauss operettas.
An artwork by Victoria Coeln commissioned by JOST25
1 – 26 JUNE 2025 IN ALL 23 DISTRICTS OF VIENNA
Indigo and the 23 Thieves
Strauss’ first operetta Indigo is eventful, to say the least, with a pretty outrageous plot into the bargain. Director Anna Bernreitner has squeezed it into a portable travel format for performances at 23 different locations in Vienna. Open air!
A co-production by JOST25 and WIR SIND WIEN.FESTIVAL
6 JUNE 2025 VIENNA CENTRAL CEMETERY & KONZERTHAUS VIENNA
Wake Up Johann Strauss
On 6 June 1899, Johann Strauss was laid to rest in Vienna’s Central Cemetery. On 6 June 2025, two well-known Viennese artists (father and son) will be bringing him back to life there and whisking him off to the Konzerthaus for a large-scale musical tribute.
Intervention and concert by JOST25
20.06.2025 DANUBE ISLAND FESTIVAL
Hooked on Strauss
During his lifetime, Johann Strauss was an artist who attracted huge audiences and had them whooping and cheering. Where would Strauss rock them if he were alive today? You’ve guessed it: at Europe’s biggest open-air music binge, the Danube Island Festival. There’ll be Strauss for everyone, featuring superstars Camo & Krooked, Christian Kolonovits and a symphony orchestra.
05.07.2025 RATHAUSPARK
Summa cum Strauss
In conjunction with the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival, hundreds of young musicians from all over the world will divide up into about 15 orchestras to play Johann Strauss at different points in the Rathauspark. A multi-sound-source experience for passers-by and a must for all Viennese citizens and visitors who associate Vienna with Johann Strauss.
A concert by JOST25 in conjunction with Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival
EARLY 2024 – END 2025
VIENNA – LINZ – SALZBURG – MUNICH – ZURICH
Waltz Symphony: composition and creative AI
In the framework of special fellowships, the Ars Electronica Futurelab and four selected conservatoires (Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts, Salzburg’s Mozarteum University, Zurich’s University of the Arts and Munich’s University of Music and Theatre) will be joining forces to devise and develop new artistic ruminations and compositions, taking their bearings from the music of Johann Strauss. In summer 2025, this process will come to fruition in a new “Straussian” Waltz Symphony. The composition, crafted with support from artificial intelligence, will be performed for the first time by the Bruckner Orchestra in Vienna and Linz (Ars Electronica Festival).
Ars Electronica Futurelab, commissioned by JOST25
2025 THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
“JO! Strauss” – When dreams learned to waltz
Children think up rhymes, sayings, rhythms and clapping games to go with Johann Strauss’ catchy tunes. The best of them will go into a collective songbook. The physical impact of the music galvanises even the very young. The children’s songs will be translated into dance moves and rehearsed to produce small contemporary choreographies.
A collaborative venture by JOST 25, SUPERAR and Tanz die Toleranz. On 10 March there will be a major concert at the Konzerthaus Vienna.