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.
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.
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
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