The opera scene in Vienna is one of the most famous and renowned in the world. The tradition dates back to the 17th century, when the Court Opera was founded.

The Vienna State Opera houses some of the most famous names on the world stage and, in addition to opera, also hosts ballet performances.

Internationally unrivalled is the range of the opera repertoire, which is the most extensive on the world stage.

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Vienna Opera repertoire

The State Opera performs around 220 performances a year, most of which are operas, with a minority of ballet.

The current repertoire consists of a mix of classical operas with newer operas written in the second half of the 20th century. The staging of the ten flagship performances of the Vienna Opera is also changing slightly from time to time, with the world's best stars gracing the stage. These operas include:

Carmen ( Georges Bizet)
Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
Faust (Charles Gounod)
The Betrayed Sea (Hans Werner Henze)
The Coronation of Poppaea (Claudio Monteverdi)
Abduction from the Seraglio (W. A. Mozart)
Madame Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
La Traviata ( Giuseppe Verdi)
Macbeth (Giuseppe Verdi)
Parsifal (Richard Wagner)

Tickets for the performance

Due to the considerable excess of demand over supply, it is definitely best to buy tickets online at the official website wiener-staatsoper.at.

The cheapest seats in the side balcony with not a full view of the stage always start at 15 eur. Tickets in the galleries above can be purchased from 57 eur to 80 eur.

Tickets for the main part of the auditorium and the lucrative balcony seats cost around 190 eur and the best front row seats then go for about 220 eur.

Interestingly, standing room only seats tend to be available on site, about 2 hours before the show starts. They are priced between 5 eur and 10 eur.

Vienna Opera Ball

A special event in Austrian cultural life is the traditional ball at the Vienna Opera, which is always held on the Thursday of the last week of Mardi Gras. The ball has been held annually since 1877 and is a prestigious affair for the European elite.

However, anyone can attend the ball. That is, anyone who is willing to pay several thousand dollars and who is quick enough to open an online booking - tickets often sell out in minutes.

Basic entry costs 315 eur and is without seating. The cheapest seats at a table on the 6th floor come out at 210 eur, and in the main section at 1 260 eur.

Opera House

The Vienna State Opera building itself is also magnificent. It was opened in 1869 as one of the first exhibition buildings on the newly built Ringstrasse, the circular street around the centre.

The building is built in the ornate French Renaissance style and can be visited outside of opera performances as a guided tour (in German or English). For this admission you pay 10 eur.

Location and transport

The opera house is located in the centre of Vienna on Ringstrasse and is within a 20-minute walk of most major sights. It is also very accessible by public transport: