Editing Vienna State Opera (section)

== Today ==
=== The company ===
The Vienna State Opera is closely linked to the [[Vienna Philharmonic]], which is an incorporated society of its own, but whose members are recruited from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

The {{Lang|de|Wiener Staatsoper}} is one of the busiest opera houses in the world producing 50 to 60 operas in a [[Repertory theatre|repertory]] system per year and ten ballet productions in more than 350 performances.<ref>[http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/Content.Node/home/aktuelles/neuigkeiten/Spielplan_16-17.de.php 2016/17 season], Vienna State Opera</ref> It is quite common to find a different opera being produced each day of a week. The {{lang|de|Staatsoper}} employs over 1000 people. As of 2008, the annual operating budget of the {{lang|de|Staatsoper}} was 100&nbsp;million euros with slightly more than 50% as a state subsidy.
[[File:Photo of Gustav Mahler by Moritz Nähr 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Gustav Mahler was artistic director of the ''Hofoper'' from 1897 to 1907.]]

The company's 2019 production of [[Olga Neuwirth]]'s opera ''Orlando'' marked the first production of an opera by a female composer in the history of the Vienna State Opera.<ref>{{cite news |title=After 150 years, Vienna opera house stages first opera by a woman |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/24/vienna-opera-house-virginia-woolf-orlando-olga-neuwirth |access-date=24 November 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=24 November 2019}}</ref>

===Gustav Mahler===
{{See also|Repertory of the Vienna Court Opera under Gustav Mahler}}

[[Gustav Mahler]] was one of the many conductors who have worked in Vienna. During his tenure (1897–1907), Mahler cultivated a new generation of singers, such as [[Anna von Mildenburg|Anna Bahr-Mildenburg]] and [[Selma Kurz]], and recruited a stage designer who replaced the lavish historical stage decors with sparse stage scenery corresponding to modernistic, [[Jugendstil]] tastes. Mahler also introduced the practice of dimming the lighting in the theatre during performances, which was initially not appreciated by the audience. However, Mahler's reforms were maintained by his successors.

===Herbert von Karajan===
[[File:Herbert von Karajan 1963.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Herbert von Karajan, artistic director of the Vienna State Opera from 1957 to 1964]]
[[Herbert von Karajan]] introduced the practice of performing operas exclusively in their original language instead of being translated into German. He also strengthened the [[musical ensemble|ensemble]] and regular principal singers and introduced the policy of predominantly engaging guest singers. He began a collaboration with [[La Scala]] in Milan, in which both productions and orchestrations were shared. This created an opening for the prominent members of the Viennese ensemble to appear in Milan, especially to perform works by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] and [[Richard Strauss]].

===Ballet companies merge===
At the beginning of the 2005–2006 season, the ballet companies of the Staatsoper and the [[Vienna Volksoper]] were merged under the direction of Gyula Harangozó, which led to a reduction in the number of performers in the resulting ensemble. This has resulted in an increase in the number of guest stars engaged to work in the ballet. The practice of combining the two ballet companies proved an artistic failure, and Harangozó left when his contract expired in 2010.

From the 2010–2011 season a new company was formed called ''Wiener Staatsballet'', [[Vienna State Ballet]], under the direction of former [[Paris Opera Ballet]] principal dancer [[Manuel Legris]]. Legris eliminated Harangozós's policy of presenting nothing but traditional [[narrative ballet]]s with guest artists in the leading roles, concentrated on establishing a strong in-house ensemble and restored evenings of mixed bill programs, featuring works of [[George Balanchine]], [[Jerome Robbins]], [[Jiří Kylián]], [[William Forsythe (choreographer)|William Forsythe]], and many contemporary choreographers, as well as a reduced schedule of the classic ballets.

===140th anniversary season===
2009 marked the 140th anniversary of the Vienna Opera House. To celebrate this milestone an idea designed to reach out and embrace a new audience was conceived. A giant 50 sqm screen was placed on the side of the opera house facing [[Kärntner Straße]]. In four months live broadcasts of over 60 famous operas were transmitted in this way, including performances of ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'', ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' and ''[[Don Giovanni]]''. This successful venture brought a new wave of operatic excitement to the many tourists and locals who experienced this cultural event. During daytime the screen displays a replica of the Opera House's façade, as it obstructs a considerable part of the building, along with information about upcoming performances.

=== The opera house and children ===
[[File:Staatsoper Wien DSC 5273w.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|View from the ''Ring'', on the roof the tent for children's performances (demounted in 2015 and now replaced by a [[:de:stadtTheater walfischgasse|special theatre]])]]

The Vienna State Opera is particularly open to children: under Holender's direction (he has three children of his own), the opera house has become well known for its children's productions, which are performed in a tent on the roof of the Staatsoper. Recent examples include ''[[Peter Pan (1950 musical)|Peter Pan]]'', ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Das Traumfresserchen|de}}'' (''The Dream Gobbler''), ''[[The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas|Der 35. Mai]]'' (''The 35th of May''), [[C. F. E. Horneman]]'s ''Aladdin'', ''[[Bastien und Bastienne]]'' and ''Wagners Nibelungenring für Kinder'' (''Wagner's [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]] for children''). In addition to this, there is a production of ''The Magic Flute'' every year for 9- and 10-year-olds, decorated like the [[Vienna Opera Ball|Opernball]].

The opera house also has an opera school for boys and girls between the ages of eight and fourteen, which takes place in the afternoons after regular school. The children are introduced to music theatre and the prospect of becoming opera singers. The company recruits singers for children's roles in its productions from this opera school. Twice every season there is a special matinée performance of the opera school. In 2006, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, they performed a 20-minute miniature opera ''Der kleine Friedrich'' arranged from songs of Mozart by [[Janko Kastelic]] and Claudia Toman.

=== "Standing room only" audience ===
[[File:Wien Staatsoper Innenansicht.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|View of the [[orchestra pit]] and [[safety curtain]] The curtain ''Play as Cast'' was designed by [[Tacita Dean]], and installed during the season 2004–2005.]]
Eighty minutes before each performance, cheap standing room tickets are sold ({{€|10|link=yes}}).<ref name="plan" /> These are popular with all age groups, and now have an almost legendary regular clientele, which is merciless in showing its [[Booing|displeasure]] with a performance loudly and unambiguously, but is even louder in voicing approval.<ref>[http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article107169977/Vom-Reiz-der-billigen-Plaetze.html "Vom Reiz der billigen Plätze"] by Helmut Söring, ''[[Hamburger Abendblatt]]'', 31 October 2006 {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Wien ist anders – Ist Wien anders?|first=Phillipp|last=von Hornau|year=2012|page=631|language=de}}</ref>

=== ''Der Neue Merker'' ===

Every performance at the Vienna State Opera is reviewed by an independent company in the opera publication ''Der Neue Merker''<ref>For "Merker", see [[Meistersinger]]</ref> (''The New Judge'') which is printed in about 2000 copies. This is unusual in that most opera magazines prefer to concentrate on new productions and premieres. There is an online version<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://onlinemerker.com/|title=Startseite|date=16 February 2018}}</ref> parallel to the publication, which receives (as of March 2007) an average of 10,000 visitors a week, and therefore is one of the most successful German-language opera portals.

=== Opera ball ===
[[File:Vienna Opera Ball 27 February 2014 05.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Debutants entry at the Vienna Opera Ball]]
For many decades, the opera house has been the venue of the [[Vienna Opera Ball]]. It is an event, which takes place annually on the last Thursday in [[Carnival in Germany, Switzerland and Austria|Fasching]]. Those in attendance often include visitors from around the world, especially prominent names in business and politics. The opera ball receives media coverage from a range of outlets.

The opera ball in 1968 was the occasion for a protest, at which the organisation was criticised for being "elite" (due to the high prices), "conceited" (due to the opulent display of wealth for the newspapers and cameras) and "reactionary" (for upholding an allegedly outdated culture). There was violence between the demonstrators and the police.

=== Safety curtain ===
"Safety Curtain" is an exhibition series conceived by the non-profit art initiative [[museum in progress]], which has been transforming the [[safety curtain]] of the Vienna State Opera into a temporary exhibition space for contemporary art since 1998.<ref>Cf. [http://www.mip.at/projects/eiserner-vorhang Exhibition page "Safety Curtain"], [[museum in progress]]</ref> A jury ([[Daniel Birnbaum]] and [[Hans-Ulrich Obrist]]) selects the artists whose works are attached to the safety curtain by means of magnets and are shown during the course of a season. Artists up to date: [[Pierre Alechinsky]], [[Tauba Auerbach]], [[John Baldessari]], [[Matthew Barney]], Thomas Bayrle, [[Tacita Dean]], [[Cerith Wyn Evans]], [[Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster]], [[Richard Hamilton (artist)|Richard Hamilton]], [[David Hockney]], Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler, [[Joan Jonas]], Martha Jungwirth, [[Jeff Koons]], [[Maria Lassnig]], Oswald Oberhuber, [[Giulio Paolini]], [[Rirkrit Tiravanija]], [[Rosemarie Trockel]], [[Cy Twombly]], [[Kara Walker]], [[Carrie Mae Weems]] and [[Franz West]].<ref>Kaspar Mühlemann Hartl, museum in progress; Dominique Meyer, Vienna State Opera (Ed.): ''CURTAIN – VORHANG. A Living Museum Space – The Vienna State Opera Safety Curtain'', Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst 2017. {{ISBN|978-3-903228-11-5}}.</ref>