Vienna Festival

From May 13 to June 18, Vienna is home to a contemporary festival of the arts: The Vienna Festival presents powerful home-grown productions, world premieres, and international works from the fields of theater, music, and dance through to the visual arts. All of them daring and about creating new things. The opening on City Hall Square is a sparkling open-air event with electronic music by Kruder & Dorfmeister and more.

Artistic director Christophe Slagmuylder has announced 38 productions, including a dozen premieres. There are no fewer than 23 venues – all of Vienna is a stage for the 161 performances of the Vienna Festival in 2022.

"Requiem" beforehand

The prologue to this year's Vienna Festival is an ode to life: Star director Romeo Castellucci produces Mozart's Requiem. Together with conductor Raphaël Pichon and the ensemble Pygmalion, there result is a comprehensive exhilaration of becoming and passing away, with the choir at its center. (April 1, 2, 4 & 5, 2022, MuseumsQuartier Hall E)

Opening: Open-air event on City Hall Square

The Vienna Festival gets going by celebrating a Last Night on Earth on May 13: The large open-air event on City Hall Square is an event of many surprises, conceived by David Schalko, with Kruder & Dorfmeister and many special guests. Plus live broadcast on ORF and 3sat.

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Wiener Festwochen 2022: Requiem — Mozart's "Requiem", as a scenic performance directed by Romeo Castellucci, serves as a prologue to the Vienna Festival. With the ensemble Pygmalion; Raphaël Pichon conducts. – © Pascal Victor, Art Com Press, Festival d'Aix en Provence

El Conde del Torrefiel — A festival high point: The premiere of "Una imagen interior" by director Tanya Beyeler and author Pablo Gisbert. Together the pair form the Spanish theater collective El Conde de Torrefiel, one of the greatest discoveries of recent years in Europe. – © Mario Zamora

Wiener Festwochen 2022: Opening at Rathausplatz, Open Air — On May 13, 2022: Open-air event for the festival opening at City Hall Park with Kruder & Dorfmeister and many other guests. Free admission! – © hand mit auge

The commissioned festival work "Peace on Earth" ("Friede auf Erden") is a collaboration between the visual artist Ulla von Brandenburg and the Vienna-based Arnold Schoenberg Chor (musical direction: Erwin Ortner; celebrates its 50th anniversary this year!). – © Jan Northoff

Mozart's "Requiem", as a scenic performance directed by Romeo Castellucci, serves as a prologue to the Vienna Festival. With the ensemble Pygmalion; Raphaël Pichon conducts. – © Pascal Victor, Art Com Press, Festival d'Aix en Provence

A festival high point: The premiere of "Una imagen interior" by director Tanya Beyeler and author Pablo Gisbert. Together the pair form the Spanish theater collective El Conde de Torrefiel, one of the greatest discoveries of recent years in Europe. – © Mario Zamora

On May 13, 2022: Open-air event for the festival opening at City Hall Park with Kruder & Dorfmeister and many other guests. Free admission! – © hand mit auge

The commissioned festival work "Peace on Earth" ("Friede auf Erden") is a collaboration between the visual artist Ulla von Brandenburg and the Vienna-based Arnold Schoenberg Chor (musical direction: Erwin Ortner; celebrates its 50th anniversary this year!). – © Jan Northoff

Space for creativity and new invention

The diversity continues: International spoken theater has a prominent line-up, with productions by Christiane Jatahy, Christopher Rüping, Tiago Rodrigues, and many more. A wide musical gamut rings out from the stages, from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Iannis Xenakis, from Arnold Schönberg to Peter Rehberg. Tark Atoui has designed instruments specially for the festival and these will be played at several locations.

The premiere of Phantasmagoria is one of the biggest experiments of the Vienna Festival in 2022: A concert like never before, an evening of science fiction. Created by Philippe Parreno, one of the most important contemporary artists, with music by Marko Nikodijevic, the enfant terrible of contemporary music. The ensemble intercontemporain performs.

Stars and newcomers

The great actresses Isabelle Huppert, Caroline Peters, and Adèle Haenel are guests, as are up-and-coming newcomers from around the world. In total, 347 artists from five continents are taking part in this year's Vienna Festival.

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Le Cerisaie, Isabelle Huppert — Isabelle Huppert in the role of landowner Lyubov in Anton Chechov's "The Cherry Garden / La Cerisaie" (director: Tiago Rodrigues) has to experience how the family estate is lost. – © Christophe Raynaud de Lage, Festival d'Avignon

Isabelle Huppert in the role of landowner Lyubov in Anton Chechov's "The Cherry Garden / La Cerisaie" (director: Tiago Rodrigues) has to experience how the family estate is lost. – © Christophe Raynaud de Lage, Festival d'Avignon

The theater, film, and TV actress Caroline Peters dedicates herself to the contrasts between humankind and machine, of nature and technology, in "Die Maschine steht nicht still" ("The Machine does not Stop"). – © Rafaela Proell

Another tip: The Festival Bar on Karlsplatz. The Café-Restaurant Resselpark becomes a hotspot in the middle of the city for festival visitors, artists and last-minute festival-goers. The place where festival happenings continue late into the night.

Vienna Festival 2022

May 13 – June 18, 2022; Prologue "Requiem" already on April 1, 2, 4 & 5, 2022
May 13, 2022: Open-air opening on City Hall Square – live broadcast via ORF 2 and 3sat (9.20 pm). Admission free.
various venues
Program, information, tickets: www.festwochen.at