The calendar of the Viennese ball season is filled with more than 450 balls. The Opera Ball at the Vienna State Opera is the most glamorous of them all, reaching an audience of millions at home and abroad through TV broadcasts. This makes the Vienna Opera Ball the most famous ball in the world. Anyone who cannot celebrate on-site with the 5,150 ball guests can enjoy the opening ceremony, music, dance, and interviews on TV.

Highlight of the ball season

The Vienna Opera Ball is a major musical event that combines high culture with entertainment and takes place every year at the end of Carnival. The committee, consisting of approximately 150 pairs of young men and women in white ball gowns and tails, ensures a glamorous opening of the Opera Ball. 

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Program & schedule for ball night

• 20:40: Admission of the ball guests
• 22:00: Opera Ball opening (duration: approx. 50 minutes):
  - Fanfare, Austrian National Anthem, European Anthem
  - Procession of the committee of young men and women
  - Artistic performances by the Vienna State Opera
  - Opening waltzes: The Blue Danube Waltz
• 24:00: Midnight quadrille
• 2:00 and 4:00: Quadrille
• 5.00 End of the Opera Ball

Around 150 musicians create a wonderful atmosphere in eight different dance areas at the Vienna Opera Ball in the State Opera. The Viennese waltz in its characteristic three-four time is the main element. Contemporary music also guarantees that the dancing will carry on into the early hours.

Dress code at the Opera Ball

The Vienna Opera Ball has a strict dress code. Ladies are required to wear a long, floor-length evening dress, while gentlemen must wear a black tailcoat with a white bow tie and black patent leather shoes.

51-hour set-up

For the ball preparations, the Vienna State Opera, which otherwise presents performances daily, halts its performances two evenings before the Opera Ball. The set-up of the audience area in the ballroom is completed in about 30 hours. The seats must be removed and the parquet floor laid, and a sea of flowers is added: 650 arrangements and bouquets of thousands of flowers and plants decorate loges, tables, and walls. Transforming the ballroom back into the opera stage takes a further 21 hours - a marathon job for more than 500 people.

Vienna Opera Ball

February 12, 2026
Information, reservations, tickets: www.wiener-staatsoper.at