A Christmas concert in Vienna: 23 December to 3 January

Every evening over the holidays

From 23 December to 3 January the orchestra plays every evening in the King's Hall of the Haus der Industrie, Schwarzenbergplatz 4. Concerts start at 20:30; on 24, 25 and 27 December there is also an earlier concert at 18:30.

Each concert lasts about 90 minutes with one intermission, so the 18:30 concert ends around eight.

Christmas Eve in Vienna

In Austria the 24th is the evening of Christmas: families meet for dinner and the presents are opened that night. Shops close early in the afternoon, many restaurants close or serve a set menu, and most Christmas markets close by the afternoon, some of them a few days earlier. If you want dinner out, book a table well ahead.

The 18:30 concert leaves time for a late dinner. At midnight, Christmas Mass is celebrated in St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day

25 and 26 December are public holidays, and the shops stay closed on both days. They are good days for a walk through the old town and a long afternoon in a coffee house, with a concert in the evening.

What you hear

The holiday concerts play the orchestra's Viennese programme, not a carol service: Mozart, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Schubert, Brahms, Paul Lincke's Winter-Landschaft and Johann Strauss II, ending with the Blue Danube. Soprano Anna Ryan sings arias by Cilea and Arditi. The programme may vary from concert to concert.