Photographs of this annual Christmas concert persuaded me to add Christmas in Vienna 2023 - Vorpremiere, the preview performance, to our Vienna itinerary. The sight of Christmas decorations, a choir and an orchestra in the Großer Saal, the main hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus, had stayed with me well before the trip.
I had chosen the concert for the atmosphere in the photographs, but the evening left more than a memory of seasonal decorations. Vienna at the end of the year, the sense of space in the hall and Christmas music from different countries all seemed to fit together naturally.
Christmas in Vienna
Christmas in Vienna is an established Advent concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Austria's public broadcaster, ORF, places it alongside Christmas markets, Advent wreaths and Christmas biscuits as part of the season in Vienna. For the audience, it is a gala concert in the hall; it is also recorded by ORF for broadcast over Christmas. In the 1990s, it became known through television broadcasts and Sony Classical recordings featuring Plácido Domingo, Diana Ross and José Carreras. It continues as a Christmas gala with international singers, the Vienna Boys Choir and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
There was quite a line-up for this year's concert, too. I did not know every performer beforehand, but looking through the names afterwards, it was a cast on the scale one would expect of a televised gala. The singers included Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee, Patricia Petibon, Anita Monserrat and Nikita Ivasechko. Claire Levacher conducted the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Petibon and the Vienna Girls Choir were making their first appearances at the event.
Wiener Konzerthaus
The Großer Saal is the Konzerthaus's principal hall. Two large chandeliers hang from the ceiling, contributing much to its ornate appearance. In the Christmas concert photographs, the chandeliers and ceiling decorations had caught my eye as much as the choir on stage.
The Wiener Konzerthaus opened on 19 October 1913. Its inaugural concert paired Richard Strauss's Festliches Präludium, Op. 61, written for the occasion, with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Konzerthaus describes this pairing of a contemporary work with a masterpiece of the past as an expression of its identity: a home for both tradition and new music.
Between Classics and Carols
The programme alternated between classical repertoire, carols from different countries and popular Christmas songs. Familiar pieces followed unfamiliar ones, with the focus passing between soloists, choirs and orchestra. It was easy to follow. The staging was lavish without feeling overwhelming, and suited the Christmas atmosphere in the hall.
| Composer / tradition | Work |
|---|---|
| Leroy Anderson | Sleigh Ride |
| Anonymous | Ding Dong! Merrily on High |
| Adolphe Adam | Cantique de Noël, “Minuit, chrétiens” (1847) |
| Alfonso Maria de' Liguori | Tu scendi dalle stelle (“You Come Down from the Stars”) |
| Tom Shelton | Passing Dreams |
| Pietro Alessandro Yon | Gesù bambino |
| Georges Bizet | Farandole, from L'Arlésienne, Suite No. 2 (1872) |
| Benjamin Britten | This Little Babe, Op. 28, No. 6, from A Ceremony of Carols (1942) |
| Maria Ma | Dornwald |
| Benjamin Britten | Wolcum Yole!, Op. 28, No. 2, from A Ceremony of Carols (1942) |
| Johann Sebastian Bach | Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe, from Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 (1723) |
| Anonymous | Il est né, le divin enfant (“The Divine Child Is Born”), French Christmas carol |
| Anonymous | Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming |
| Ruth Morris Gray | Shepherds, Come Quick! (arr. Wolfgang Drechsler) |
| Gustav Holst | In the Bleak Midwinter (1904-1905) |
| Irving Berlin | White Christmas |
| Jerry Herman | We Need a Little Christmas, from Mame |
| Wolfgang Borchert | Die drei dunklen Könige, from Borchert's Christmas story |
| Anonymous | May the Road Rise to Meet You, an old Irish blessing |
| Jeronimo Gimenez | La boda de Luis Alonso, zarzuela |
| Anonymous | Riu Riu Chiu |
| Eduard Ebel | Leise rieselt der Schnee, Christmas carol |
| Anonymous | Come by Here, Good Lord |
| Jule Styne | Let It Snow (1945) |
| Frank Loesser | Baby, It's Cold Outside |
| José Feliciano | Feliz Navidad, Christmas song (1970) |
| George Frideric Handel | Hallelujah, from Messiah, HWV 56 (1741) |
Broadcast and Video
I would readily recommend this concert to anyone visiting Vienna over Christmas. This performance and the following day's gala were broadcast by ORF, and a full concert video is also available on YouTube. The video preserves the staging and principal repertoire well, though the Christmas atmosphere and the sense of space in the Großer Saal are much stronger in person.
- Where
- Großer Saal, Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna
- Performance
- Christmas in Vienna 2023 - Vorpremiere
15 December 2023, 19:30 - Orchestra
- ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Claire Levacher
- Seats
- Right Gallery (Galerie Rechts), Row 1, Seat 1; Left Gallery (Galerie Links), Row 1, Seats 1-2 (€210 each)
- Broadcast
- ORF 2 and radio