Which Christmas concert to book in Vienna
Vienna in December has more concerts on offer than any visitor has evenings to spend, and many of them advertise the same composers. The real differences lie in the room and in who is playing. This guide weighs up the three concerts most visitors choose between, then looks beyond them to the churches and the opera, and ends with the ticket sellers in wigs around St. Stephen's.
Decide on the evening first
Most Christmas concerts in Vienna lean on Mozart and Strauss, so the names on a flyer tell you little. Start with the shape of the evening instead. An hour in a crypt slots into a market night without taking it over. A two-hour concert in a gilded hall becomes the night itself, and you will want to eat before or after. A Sunday Mass with the Vienna Boys' Choir is a service rather than a show, and it belongs to the morning.
An hour in the vaults of St. Peter's
The Peterskirche stands on Petersplatz, just off the Graben, and its baroque church rose between 1701 and 1733 to a design by Lukas von Hildebrandt. The concerts take place below it, in the vaults, where the Classic Ensemble Vienna plays for about an hour. Expect Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Vivaldi's Four Seasons alongside Bach, Schubert, Haydn and Beethoven, with a handful of seasonal pieces added in Advent and around New Year.
Because it is short and sits on the way from the cathedral to Am Hof, it suits a cold evening. Walk the Graben as the lights come on and duck in when your toes start to complain. Tickets start at ~$55 on GetYourGuide, against about $56 on Viator, and both sites rate it 4.6, from 767+ and 157+ reviews. The catch is the word Christmas in the title. A few reviewers expected carols and found a classical program with only some festive music in it. Shorts are not allowed, and neither is filming.
Vivaldi under a baroque church
The Classic Ensemble Vienna plays for an hour in the vaults of St. Peter's, two minutes from the Graben, from ~$55. Book early if you want the front rows, and come for the classics rather than a carol service.
Mozart's Orangery, with supper at the market
For a grander night, Palace Concerts Schönbrunn sells a market and concert ticket from ~$94, about $96 on Viator. It starts with a voucher for the palace's own Christmas market, covering one dish and a hot drink in a market mug. Then you walk round to the Orangery, the hall where Mozart performed in 1786, to hear the Schönbrunn Palace Orchestra with a soprano and a baritone in a program of Mozart and Strauss that closes with the Blue Danube. The higher categories add sparkling wine, and VIP brings priority entry, drinks, a printed program and the cloakroom. On some dates the palace concerts move into the palace itself, to the Great Gallery or the White-Gold Room, so check the venue on your ticket.
Timing is where people slip up. The regular Orangery concerts start at 8:30 pm, with doors half an hour earlier, and the market closes at 9 pm, or at 7 pm from 25 December. Use the voucher first and treat it as your supper. Reviewers, who rate the combination 4.4 on GetYourGuide (123+) and 4.2 on Viator (45+), mention an entrance that is hard to find in the dark and a slow cloakroom when everyone leaves at once. Seating is free within each category, so early arrivals get the better chairs.
The Schönbrunn market's closing times are confirmed by its organizer only just before the season opens, so check its own page before you plan supper around them. The stalls themselves are in our guide to the palace Christmas markets, and the state rooms by daylight in Schönbrunn and the Hofburg in winter.
Mozart in costume at the Musikverein
The Golden Hall of the Musikverein is where the Vienna Philharmonic gives its New Year's Concert. On many other evenings it belongs to the Vienna Mozart Orchestra, founded in 1986, which puts about 30 musicians in period costume and wigs on stage with two opera singers. The singers take the Mozart arias, and the two hours end with the Blue Danube and the Radetzky March. Seats start at ~$77 on GetYourGuide, about $79 on Viator, and it has more reviews than anything else in this guide, 4.6 from 6,213+ and 4.3 from 956+. The catch is what it is not. This is a costumed show for visitors, not the Vienna Philharmonic, and seats in the gallery can have a limited view of the stage.
The listing has a few practical points. You swap your booking for a ticket at the orchestra's office between 9:30 am and 6 pm, or at the box office from 7:15 pm on the night. Children aged 5 to 18 pay less, as do students with an ISIC card. The dress code is smart casual, which leaves room for the warm layers you wore to the markets.
Advent music in the churches
Many of Vienna's churches hold Advent and Christmas concerts of their own, and some sell them through the same booking sites. St. Anne's Church and the Capuchin Church both have Christmas programs listed there. St. Stephen's Cathedral hosts classical concerts too, at the lowest prices we saw. With luck you will also hear Silent Night, first heard in 1818 in Oberndorf near Salzburg.
Some of the best music needs no ticket at all. Am Hof books choirs for most evenings, and the old market on the Freyung has Advent music from 4 pm. Our guide to the Old Town markets gives their hours.
Sunday Mass and a night at the opera
The Vienna Boys' Choir sings Sunday Mass in the Burgkapelle, the Imperial Chapel inside the Hofburg, for much of the year. It is a service, so come dressed for church and stay until the end rather than slipping out after the music you came for. Check the chapel's own schedule for the Sundays of your trip, since the choir does not sing there all year. A Sunday Mass also sets up the rest of the morning, because the Imperial Apartments and the Sisi Museum are in the same palace.
If you would rather see an opera than a concert, look at the programs of the State Opera and the Volksoper, and at the Konzerthaus for orchestral evenings. The standing places at the State Opera cost little, but they sell fast, so they suit travelers who can be flexible about the night.
The ticket sellers in wigs
Around St. Stephen's Cathedral, sellers dressed as Mozart hand out flyers and sell concert tickets on the street. Some of the concerts they sell are fine. The trouble is that on the pavement you cannot compare the seat or the price with anything else. Choose the venue and the ensemble before anything else. Then book through the venue itself or a listing with a long record of reviews, after a look at the seating plan. If a flyer catches your eye, keep it and look the concert up online before you pay.
Dress codes and booking ahead
The dress codes in the listings are relaxed. St. Peter's asks only that you leave the shorts behind, and the Mozart evening at the Musikverein asks for smart casual. The bigger practical question is your coat. Cloakroom queues build after a palace concert, and a parka on your lap for two hours is no fun. Our December weather guide suggests layers that work outdoors and in a warm hall.
Advent weekends fill first, starting with the better categories at the Orangery and the front rows at St. Peter's. Book those once your dates are fixed, and leave one weeknight open for a concert you decide on the day. For supper before or after the music, our guide to Punsch and Christmas food lists what to eat at the stalls, and the market hours table shows which markets are still open when you come out.