Once a year the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra plays a concert without charging for tickets. The performance takes place in front of Schönbrunn Palace. To get a seat you should arrive rather early or you take a blanket with you for sitting on the lawn of the Gloriette hill.
To get an impression of this concert, this is the one of 2022:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/austria/are-you-in-vienna-today-june-16#1935353
I'll provide a report on this year's concert, but notably the Gloriette hill is no longer open for this concert and blankets/chairs were strictly forbidden.
I think think that this year was one of only a very few when we in England haven't had a broadcast here.. I was sad and now am again
... but notably the Gloriette hill is no longer open for this concert and blankets/chairs were strictly forbidden.
This was a very bad decision of the organizers, because you had to stand all time unless you were early enough to get a seat.
The reason given was about safety concerns as a camera drone flying above the Gloriette hill was used for recording.
But the seating was only available to corporate sponsors, not to the public. I stood for 3.5 hours as did everyone else without those connections.
@Nigel
I can soothe your pain.
You can download the video from here: https://bit.ly/SummerNightConcert2025
If you watch it directly using the Internet browser, it will be played with a wrong aspect ratio, because the browser does not decode the video file correctly.
