Vienna Volksoper

Vienna Volksoper overview

The Vienna Volksoper is the second largest venue for operas, musicals and concerts in Vienna. This is an opera house for the people, much loved by both Viennese and guests to the city. In the Volksoper music lovers can attend annually up to 300 performances of 24 different productions.

Vienna Volksoper

Location: Vienna/Austria
Year of Construction: 1898
Architects: Franz von Krauß and Alexander Graf.

History of the Vienna Volksoper

The Vienna Volksoper was built in 1898 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The architects of the “Kaiser’s Jubilee Civic Theatre“, as the Vienna Volksoper was called until 1908, were Franz von Krauß and Alexander Graf. In its beginning the Vienna Volksoper served as a stage for drama. Opera and operetta had to wait until 1903 to take over as the basis of the repertory for the theater.

As the building of the Vienna Volksoper was one of the few major buildings for theatre and opera to have remained unharmed during Word War II in Vienna, it served as an alternate location for the destroyed Vienna State Opera. In 1955 the Vienna Volksoper became once again an independent musical theatre for operas, musicals and operettas.

Many times during the course of its history the Vienna Volksoper has been a pioneer in matters of opera and operetta. It was at the Volksoper that such famous operas as “Tosca” and “Salome” were first performed in Vienna. The Vienna Volksoper also first brought performances of operetta to Japan, performing in 1979 in the Bunkan Kaikan Theatre in Tokio. From this time the Vienna Volksoper has been enjoyed in regular guest performances in Japan. The most recent tour was in May 2008 lasting for three weeks.

Currently, the directors of the Vienna Volksoper, Robert Meyer and Reiner Schubert, are pursuing bold reforms, which aim to further establish the Volksoper as the prime musical theatre in Vienna. In particular they plan to enhance the art form of the operetta and to attract the attention of a wider audience.