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Concerts
Vienna plays a central role in the history of classical music. This is the city where both Mozart and Beethoven worked in their prime, where Haydn and Brahms settled in their later years, where the Strauss dynasty invented and refined the waltz, where Mahler and Schoenberg shook the foundations of the music world with their stylistic innovations. The Viennese tradition of musical patronage and sophistication continues to the present day.
Vienna offers classical-music aficionados a concert scene of unsurpassed quality. The Vienna Philharmonic is today one of the finest and most popular symphony orchestras in the world. Its subscription series is sold out years in advance, but it holds special concerts throughout the year. To obtain tickets to the Vienna Philharmonic, you should start planning well before your visit to Vienna. It is best to inquire at least half a year in advance through a tourist agency specializing in musical events.
Many smaller orchestras operate in Vienna, offering you a chance to attend a world-class musical evening without planning very far ahead. These include the Vienna People's Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the Vienna Walzer Orchestra. Don't forget that Vienna is home to the world-renowned Vienna Boys' Choir, upholding the most rigorous standards of choral music in their spectacular and moving performances.
Opera
Vienna's tradition of orchestral music is coupled with Viennese excellence in opera performance. In fact, the Vienna Philharmonic draws its members from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. The Vienna State Opera performs in a large, dedicated opera house, known simply as the State Opera (Staatsoper). The State Opera is the more high-toned of Vienna's two great opera houses, with an emphasis on serious classical productions.
The People's Opera is the other great opera house in Vienna. It is outside the inner city but can be quickly reached by public transport, having a subway station to its name. Like the State Opera, the People's Opera gives hundreds of performances during the season, although its musical scope is somewhat broader than that of the State Opera. In addition to the great classical operas, the repertoire of the People's Opera extends to ballet performances and modern musicals.
The musical season at both the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna People's Opera runs from September through June. The summer months of July and August are set aside to rest the players and to plan new productions.
Night Clubs
Much of Vienna's night life takes place in dance clubs that the locals call discos. A Viennese disco is very different from American discos of the Saturday Night Fever and Soul Train variety. Instead, the dance floor in a Vienna disco throbs to the synthesized Euro-beat of techno music and its various offshoots: dance, trance, house, ambient, and other electronica.
For a more relaxed style of club-hopping, visit the traditional Austrian pubs in the downtown area known as the Bermuda Triangle. During the summer, the open-air bars and restaurants on Danube Island offer a good time under the stars. For the heartiest beer and wine in Vienna, spend an evening with friends at an inn in the Viennese hill districts. Here you can drink indoors or out depending on the weather, and are welcome to bring your own food from a Viennese deli or to order a meal on the spot. Adding to the allure of many Viennese inns is their tradition of serving wine made in the surrounding vineyards.
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