I'll be on the RS tour of Munich/Salzburg/Vienna in Dec. I really want to attend one classical Mozart and/or Beethoven concert while I'm there. Anyone have any experience in either Salzburg or Vienna? I'm seeing numerous ticket outlets and not sure which one would be best. I'll be traveling with a friend who is a vegetarian, so we're going to skip the dinner/concert ticket combos and just attend a concert. Any comments welcome!
Posted by
1527 posts
Back when we took the tour; as part of the itinerary we attended a Mozart dinner concert, so that's my only personal experience attending, but I believe there are concerts at Mirabell Palace that you may want to look into.
Posted by
State of Washington, USA
311 posts
We just attended classic music performances in both Vienna and Salzburg. We had front-row seats at both. (I also researched Munich, but did not find anything attractive for the dates we are visiting.)
Vienna: I don't know what the performance schedule will be for the days you are in Vienna, but on Aug 18 we attended a performance of Vivaldi at Karlskirche. Excellent. https://www.salzburg-palace-concerts.com/
Salzburg: Last night (Aug 30) we attended a Mozart concert at Mirabel Palace. Rick Steves discount available. It was ok, but we found the Vienna performance superior in all aspects (performance quality, venue, etc). . It was a smaller venue than the one in Vienna, so if one can only get back-section seats this venue will get one closer to the musicians than the Vienna venue. https://www.salzburg-palace-concerts.com/
Posted by
London
668 posts
We attended a Mozart concert at the fortress in Salzburg a few years ago, and I loved it both for the music and the location, you can see a photo and get more info here: https://www.salzburghighlights.at/en/best-of-mozart-concerts/best-of-mozart-fortress-concert-21/
We just did the concert and had dinner at the Stiegl Keller (which had some but limited vegetarian options).
Posted by
2575 posts
Use this link to find classical music events in both Salzburg and Vienna, but buy the tickets directly from the respective venue:
https://www.classictic.com/en
Posted by
Chicago
2179 posts
I had purchased the Salzburg Card so that entitled the user to attended an afternoon concert at the Mirabell chapel. If you want something formal, this isn't for you, but as a tourist who didn't want to dress up-it was a cheap way to see the chapel and hear some wonderful music by a trio of artists who were teachers at the Mozart school of music. IMO a better value than the Fortress dinner concert and a more intimate setting.
Posted by
Southeast US
4298 posts
I enjoy classical music. I have season tickets to my small town philharmonic and drive to the symphony at a nearby larger city. I usually look for a concert of some sort when traveling and aim more for something for the non-tourist crowd. I have tickets to the Berlin Philharmonic in Sept and to two orchestral performances and an opera in Prague in October.
Having said that, in Salzburg, I have quite enjoyed the concert at the fortress. You would be there during Advent, so the performance changes a bit to a few works of Mozart + Austrian Advent music. The performance is typically in the Golden Hall of the fortress, which provides a nice environment. I like the experience quite a bit and have done it twice.
In Vienna, nothing tops a (non-touristy) performance in the Musikverien. Its Großer Hall is Hapsburg wonderful, and it is considered one of the best performance halls in the world in terms of acoustics. If your only option is performers in 1700/1800's clothing, I would pass. If you can attend a "real" performance, though, go for it. If you like opera, the performances at Vienna's opera house are exceptional. No microphone amplification is allowed... the performers have to be able to belt out those arias!