With great success, our Deputy Chief Conductor Andreas Spörri conducted the traditional Kaffeesiederball at the Vienna Hofburg for the first time. The Ball Royale of the City of Baden was, as usual, under the direction of Laszlo Gyüker.

In Austria alone, an audience of millions followed the live TV broadcast of the Vienna Opera Ball. Radio Wien aired an extensive interview about the Opera Ball with Managing Director Prof. Herbert Fischerauer. In addition to the anthems and the traditional Blue Danube Waltz, this year’s opening also featured the Fächer-Polonaise by C. M. Ziehrer and the Bitte schön Polka by J. Strauss. The Fledermaus, Orpheus and Masked Ball Quadrilles once again delighted the ball guests until five in the morning, under the choreographic direction of Maria Santner and to the music of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra conducted by Chief Conductor Laszlo Gyüker.

The next traditional ball featuring the participation of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra is the Concordia Ball on 22 May 2026 at Vienna City Hall.

Further concerts by the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Spörri and titled “Viennese Summer Night Concert,” will take place on 19 and 21 June at the Concert Hall Solothurn.

The new Austrian Ambassador to Tunisia, Stephan Vavrik, and the President of the Austrian-Tunisian Society, Othman Zenagui, hosted a reception in Sousse before the event to meet Managing Director Prof. Herbert Fischerauer, Chief Conductor Laszlo Gyüker and the two soloists in person.

According to official figures, the Tunisian National Solidarity Fund has provided over 80,000 families with energy and drinking water, built thousands of kilometers of roads, health centers and schools in the years of its existence. These investments are financed by the Austrian concert presence in El Jem and by donations from numerous companies and individuals.  

Die Festivalleitung unter Mabrok Layoumi und Ramzi Jenaih freut sich bereits auf das nächste Jahr, wenn das Wiener Opernball Orchester bereits zum 28. Mal nach El Jem reisen wird!

Photos by Sedrick Kollerics

Unter dem Motto „Das Fest für den freien Journalismus“ feierten rund 3000 Gäste aus aller Welt im Wiener Rathaus bis in die frühen Morgenstunden – mit Walzer, Worten und Wertschätzung für unabhängige Medienarbeit. Im Johann Strauss Jahr 2025 wurde die enge historische Verbindung zwischen dem Concordia Ball und der berühmten Musikerfamilie besonders gefeiert. Das Wiener Opernball Orchester unter der Leitung von Chefdirigent Laszlo Gyüker war dabei der ideale Klangkörper. Ein musikalisches Highlight des Abends war die Uraufführung der von der jungen britischen Musikerin Alma Deutscher eigens komponierten „Neue Concordia Polka – Eilmeldung“. Das Wiener Opernball Orchester brachte unter ihrer Leitung dieses Werk bei der Eröffnung zum Klingen – ein klangvoller Beweis dafür, dass musikalische Tradition und zeitgenössische Relevanz kein Widerspruch sein müssen.

The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRQd5M397oI 

Enjoy!

The next big ball event with the participation of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra is the Concordia Ball on 23 May in Vienna City Hall!

Who nowadays experiences such an original, dignified Viennese evening as the musical New Year's greeting that took place on 18 January in the historically restored music hall of Basel's Stadtcasino in front of a full stalls and balcony? 

Conductor Andreas Spörri stood at the podium of his Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra and sailed singers and musicians with sure hands over the waves of waltzes from the symphonic ‘Poet and Peasant’ overture to the obligatory Blue Danube Waltz, the opus 314 by dynasty prince Johann Strauss in a swinging triple metre including radiant solo singing and galloping dance on the concert stage at the Rheinknie. Spörri has the flair to stretch out the opening of the classic Viennese waltz until the violins release their bows for the downstroke. The strings are joined by the wind instruments in the row below the organ prospectus, providing a counterpoint of signals and festive sounds. 

Erwin Belakowitsch, the presenter, caricatured the social norms of the time and their infidelities in a deliciously funny way with fine Viennese humour. The entertaining evening was festively fiery with a long interval after the champagne gallop to toast! Soprano Claudia Goebl and tenor Vincent Schirrmacher contributed their solo parts brilliantly, including duets. 

Extract from the concert review by Jürg Erni                                                                                                                                           
27 January 2025, former music editor at the Basler Zeitung, and at the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation

The Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra performed for the 26th time in the third largest amphitheatre in the world. The building, erected in 238 AD, has been one of the venues for the Tunisian Summer of Culture for decades. The WOO, under the direction of Christoph Huber, delighted the more than 5000 visitors with Viennese sounds. The two vocal soloists Andreja Zidaric from the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and Günter Haumer from the Vienna Volksoper interpreted the popular melodies from Franz Lehar to Emmerich Kálmán with great voices and a lot of feeling. Once again, the WOO was given a standing ovation shortly after midnight after the Danube Waltz and the Radetzky March.

On 24 May 2024, Vienna City Hall was transformed into the venue for the 124th Concordia Ball, at which the media industry, artists and cultural professionals as well as an international ball audience sent an impressive signal for press freedom.

Under the direction of deputy chief conductor Andreas Spörri, the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra performed the most beautiful melodies by C. M. Ziehrer, F. Lehar and the Strauss dynasty. The world premiere of the "Festive Fanfare for Free Journalism" by Austrian composer Pavel Singer was particularly impressive. This new composition set a powerful accent for the importance of free journalism. (Vienna International News)

The deputy chief conductor of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra, Andreas Spörri, together with the brilliant musicians, the solo cellist Christophe Pantillon, the vocal soloists Elisabeth Flechl and Iurie Ciobanu and the dancers of the "Roman Svabek Ballroom Dancers", created a glamorous work of art with verve and passion. Erwin Belakowitsch led the evening with a witty and humorous presentation.

The members of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra celebrated Viennese Music during this brilliant, colorful evening, and the organizer's goal of bringing the flair of the Vienna Opera Ball to Basel for the first time was fully achieved. The audience thanked the artists with standing ovations.

The following day, on January 14, 2024, the KKL Lucerne once again hosted a sold-out New Year's concert.

Under the musical direction of chief conductor Laszlo Gyüker, classical compositions from opera and operetta as well as works by Johann Strauss, Carl Michael Ziehrer and Josef Lanner were performed. The vocal soloists Martha Hirschmann and Ilona Revolskaya delighted the audience not only with their vocal qualities, but also in their interplay during the famous opera duets from Lakmé and Tales of Hoffmann. After a two-hour concert and three encores, the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra was bid farewell by the more than 5,000 visitors with standing ovations lasting several minutes. 

As last year, the concert was broadcast live by Tunisian state television and by three other TV stations.