Musikverein Festival: Clara’s flower album

Among the countless treasures preserved in the archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, this is perhaps the finest, most delicate – and certainly the most tender: an album of bouquets of dried flowers that Clara Schumann collected for Johannes Brahms. At the Musikverein Festival 2025, “Clara’s Flower Album” forms the starting point of a blooming program around love, friendship and nature as a resonating space of emotion. Flowers can say what cannot simply be put into words. And, of course, the music!

March 10 to April 12, 2025

Schubert | Bookbinder

Franz Schubert is one of the composers Rudolf Buchbinder has grown particularly fond of during his decades-long career alongside Beethoven. In the 2024/25 season, he will bring together stars such as Jonas Kaufmann, Hilary Hahn and Gautier Capuçon to perform highlights from Schubert’s oeuvre.

Prokofiev | Levit

The focus “Prokofiev | Levit” is a dream come true for Igor Levit. On three evenings in March, the German pianist will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s five piano concertos with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer. Other orchestral works by Prokofiev complete the picture of this musical innovator at the beginning of the 20th century.

Musikverein Perspectives: Anton Zeilinger

The physicist Anton Zeilinger is passionate about music. This will become clear in the Musikverein Perspectives: in concerts and talks developed with the Nobel Prize winner.

Johann Strauss 200. Birthday

No music better illustrates the musical lightness of the 19th century, framed by dancing congress and fin de siècle. And no music today is considered more “Viennese” than the music of the Strauss family—the 200. The 100th birthday of the Waltz King Johann Strauss (son) on October 25, 2025, casts its shadow ahead. Reason enough to pay tribute to the honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna right now.

Arnold Schönberg Gurre-Lieder

A comprehensive concert series for the 2023/24 season with works by Arnold Schönberg to mark his 150th birthday. Birthday takes place on 13. and September 14, 2024, with the “Gurre-Lieder” premiered in the Großer Musikvereinssaal. These are also Petr Popelka’s first concerts as the new chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Pierre Boulez 100. Birthday

The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna is paying tribute to its honorary member, Pierre Boulez, with a special event to mark his 100th birthday on March 26, 2025. Birthday on March 26, 2025. Guests include long-time companions such as pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Souvenir

This concert series in the Brahms Hall is aimed at people with dementia and their relatives as well as all interested concertgoers. Well-known melodies, lively pieces of music and an entertaining host create a feel-good space for everyone for an hour at a time.

Contemporary music

For more than two centuries, the “revival of music in all its branches” has been the primary goal of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde has permanently attached great importance to contemporary music and new formats and approaches.