Wiener Symphoniker

With its rich musical history, its courage to forge its own path, and its enduring joy in discovery, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is the beating heart of the classical metropolis of Vienna. In 2025 it celebrated its 125th anniversary.

At its inception in 1900, this new ensemble was swept up in the fresh winds of Viennese modernism. Confident and visionary, the orchestra confronted the challenges of the 20th century. Its concerts aimed to make new sound worlds accessible to wider audiences; for example, it was the first Viennese orchestra to perform all of Beethoven’s symphonies.

The pioneering spirit of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra led it to swiftly become one of Europe’s leading orchestras for world premieres. These have included milestones of musical history such as the first performances of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Franz Schmidt’s oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln, all premiered by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. To this day, the orchestra places great importance on its collaborations with contemporary composers who include Olga Neuwirth, Wolfgang Rihm, HK Gruber, Thomas Larcher, Johannes Maria Staud, Michael Jarrell, Guillaume Connesson, Dieter Ammann and Jörg Widmann.

With its so-called ‘popular concerts’ in the Vienna Volksgarten and its legendary workers’ symphony concerts, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra ensured from its inception that classical music was no longer just the property of a narrow elite. Today, its open-air concerts – to take one example – are a fixed point in its annual cycle. In its ‘Grätzl-Konzerte’ (neighbourhood concerts) series, the orchestra performs in unusual locations in Vienna and conquers new venues in the city. Through its chamber music series at the Vienna Museum, it enters into a dialogue with the city’s history.

The orchestra’s distinguished principal conductors have included Willhelm Furtwängler, Hans Swarowsky, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Georges Prêtre. Petr Popelka has been its new principal conductor since 2024, while Marie Jacquot is principal guest conductor.

As an official cultural ambassador, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra brings the distinctive sound of its homeland to the great concert halls of Europe and Asia. The orchestra most recently appeared in Salzburg in January 2026, performing at the Großes Festspielhaus under Alexander Soddy.

The orchestra has delighted a wide audience of opera lovers for many decades as orchestra in residence at the Bregenz Festival. Since 2025 it has held a new residency, Primavera di Vienna, in the Italian city of Trieste.