The motto of the season is "Orchester der Stadt".

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How do our musicians see their instrument? That's what we wanted to know in the 125th anniversary season. We know the instruments, their appearance and their sound. But how do the Wiener Symphoniker see their violins, trumpets and their harp?

In 52 personal pictures, the musicians show their daily companions from the perspective of their hearts - sketched declarations of love for music.

Petr Popelka on his visions for the Wiener Symphoniker and the programme for his inaugural season 

Petr Popelka, just before your first season as Chief Conductor, what do you think when you wake up in the middle of the night? 

Generally, I sleep well. But I have this feeling of high enthusiasm. This tingling sensation that it’'s about to start. The anticipation that we can finally perform together, that our journey is about to begin. Naturally, there are also thoughts of the responsibility and the awareness that at some point there will certainly be problems to solve. However, above all, there is this sparkling excitement about the beginning.

You have a very long relationship with the Wiener Symphoniker ... 

 ... already as a teenager I used to come regularly from Prague to Vienna with my parents to hear the world's greatest orchestras in this city. For me, the Wiener Symphoniker are the musical embodiment of Vienna, an orchestra that captures and expresses the spirit of the city, an ensemble with a long-standing tradition, but most of all an orchestra that has always personified the modern pioneering spirit - both in terms of repertoire and the role of an orchestra within society. When people ask me how I imagine my journey with the Wiener Symphoniker, I think of my young son: Which orchestra would we like to hand over to the next generation? How does a modern orchestra work, in which we play music on an equal footing? How can we nurture and strengthen the virtues of the Wiener Symphoniker together?

You like to talk about a „modern orchestra“, what do you mean exactly? 

An orchestra that, with all its musicians, knows every evening why it’s performing which programme. An orchestra that reaches out to people with its passion and quality. An orchestra that appeals to everyone through diversity: children as well as classical music novices and music experts. An orchestra that inspires by the quality of its playing, by its precision and clarity. An orchestra in which everyone’s part is heard, in which every single voice counts. An orchestra in which everyone feels involved. Unfortunately, we are currently observing that classical music is not doing so well in many places, and that some orchestras are even up for debate. All the more important that an orchestra as deeply rooted in its city as the Wiener Symphoniker should take on a leading role. 

You played double bass in the Staatskapelle Dresden. What did you learn about the profession of conductor there? 

There’s a great danger that music becomes routine for musicians who play almost every evening – it becomes „duty“. That is in the nature of things. And, indeed, I have experienced this myself: there are conductors who don’t really communicate why this particular programme is so important in the place where it is being performed. They are afraid to address mistakes directly so as not to jeopardise the harmony in the orchestra. But I believe that’s the wrong approach. As a musician, I wanted nothing more than to be inspired, to take in ideas and to work intensively with all my colleagues towards the best possible interpretation. I want to be on board, I want to develop – that’s why we took up this job in the first place. From passion! In my work with the Wiener Symphoniker, I felt exactly this curiosity in the orchestra, the joy of the shared „birth“ of music, of these moments when everyone realises: „Something is happening right now!“ And these moments can only be achieved through honesty, when we really get down to business, when everyone senses that we are about to reach a new level. For me, it’s about optimising the interplay within individual groups as well as the collaboration between them. In the end, that’s what defines the quality of an orchestra.

By what means can a conductor achieve this? 

The conductor must know exactly what she or he is doing, when and why. In the long run, I am also convinced that it is important to develop diversity and flexibility in the orchestra. Whether baroque, classical, romantic, modern or contemporary - there must be not a single genre that an orchestra like the Wiener Symphoniker cannot handle. It wouldn’t be expedient for us to neuter ourselves.

That’s interesting, because for a long time we used to have specialised ensembles focusing on one musical form in particular: the Romantic period or the Baroque ... 

It’s important that these ensembles continue to exist. Music history would be different without experts like Nikolaus Harnoncourt! What I particularly admired about him, by the way, was how he inspired very different orchestras with his enormous knowledge. Conductors should always find answers to the „why?“. But I also believe that an orchestra like the Wiener Symphoniker, the orchestra of an entire city, should understand music as a whole, music history as the great arc in which the periods inspire one another. Knowing Bach makes me play Mozart differently, my knowledge of Mozart changes my Beethoven and my knowledge of Beethoven influences my Wagner – who in turn influences my Schönberg. I am also firmly convinced that playing Mozart should be like brushing one’s teeth for an orchestra. Mozart is part of the daily sound hygiene! 

Let’s have a quick look at your programme for the anniversary season. You are bringing one of your great heroes to the inaugural concert: Béla Bartók ... 

 ... oh yes: quite intentionally!

Why?

Because Bartók represents so many things that also inspire me as a composer. I will open one of his scores and it's always a source of inspiration. The remarkable thing about Bartók is that, on the one hand, he composes in a highly complex style, but that complexity is never a purpose in itself for him, but always a way of achieving an even more accessible expression. Bartók fuses the playful and the sensual aspects of listening. I hardly know any composers who have written such ingenious music that simultaneously appeals to and captivates the audience. Of course, Bartók played an important role in my inaugural concert, because in his music every section of the orchestra is called on to perform, because in his music sound is only created when everyone works together.

We will also experience great classics this season that everyone is familiar with. For example, the „Four Last Songs“ by Richard Strauss. 

For me, this music is part of the core repertoire of the Wiener Symphoniker, and exactly the way we are performing it: with one of the best singers for this repertoire today – Asmik Grigorian. We contrast Strauss with Gottfried von Einem. The result is a dialogue of many small and entertaining parts. It is not a long programme, but a deliberate series of small musical moments that are linked together.

The Mozart programme you will conduct seems to carry a secret message: Prague! 

You recognised that quite rightly! Not only because the „Prague Symphony“ is on the programme. I have to say that I am very, very proud of this concert programme. My home country, the Czech Republic, was not without significance for Mozart. We are also playing the concert aria „Bella mia fiamma, addio“ that evening. Mozart composed it in 1787 for one of his benefactors and hosts, or rather for the man’s wife. Josefína Dušková was a well-known singer, and there is an anecdote that she locked Mozart into a small room until he composed this aria for her. I played in the orchestra myself for a long time and never quite understood why concert arias are so rarely on the programmes of symphony orchestras. I have to say: I love this genre, and this aria by Mozart is incredibly beautiful. And then we also perform Busoni’s „Idomeneo“ Suite. Idomeneo is one of those Mozart operas that I particularly adore. 

You probably didn’t have to be locked into a room until you had put together the anniversary programme for 30 October 2025, did you? 

Of course not. The entire anniversary season is based on this programme, which is a big part of the Wiener Symphoniker’s identity: Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand and Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs are works that the orchestra premiered, and Mozart’s „Jupiter Symphony“ is a piece that I personally wanted for this occasion. Our intensive exploration of the orchestra’s history in this anniversary season is a good start to taking the tradition of the Wiener Symphoniker into a new phase.

What also strikes is that you will be travelling a lot with the orchestra: two times across Europe, with residencies in Trieste and China in between. 

Nowhere else can you work as intensively as on tour. Usually one rehearses a programme, plays it twice – and then comes the next one. Tours are different, they tie the orchestra together. The repertoire is rehearsed and then performed four, five or six times. The same notes every evening – and ideally: every night with the same and new enthusiasm. It’s like having the same dish every evening, but always with different table settings and new guests. I think that’s a great, collective challenge. Not to mention the fact that there's no better way to get to know one another than by travelling, living together, experiencing shared adventures and showcasing the sound of the Wiener Symphoniker around the world anew every evening. I'm really looking forward to this time, but I’m just as much looking forward to finally getting started and to fill sounds into our concert halls in Vienna, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein.

When I first arrived in Vienna five years ago, as a stranger, excited about a new orchestra, I was faced with the challenge of familiarising myself with the city. Sure, „Vienna, City of Music“: homes to Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann, and the workplaces of Mahler and Schönberg. But how does one discover the soundtrack of a modern metropolis aside from the tourist clichés? How does one hear the sound of the city's orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker?

There is probably no better way to explore a city than to let oneself be carried along by it. I live close to the Prater. In winter, there is a snowy, hushed atmosphere here, in summer the buzz of entertainment is pulsating – resounding voices in the Viennese heat. If you bike up the main alley, you are suddenly in an urban jungle, surrounded by the rustling of trees and the chirping birds. Vienna's soundtrack is limitless. The beating life in the Beisel neighbourhoods, on Schleifmühlgasse, the Servitenviertel, Praterstraße, or further out, in Margareten or Ottakring, utterly unique charming microcosms far from tourist routes. And then again the grand tranquillity of St Stephen's Cathedral, a silent landmark in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. A few metres further on, the clinking of beer bottles and the South American tango from a hi-fi on the Danube Canal. Subdued silence awaits us in the museums, an amazed hush in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, an anxious group of school children in the Wien Museum, and Hercules and Apollo lift the sky in the National Library without so much as a gasp.

The city’s sounding board

Vienna's soundtrack is versatile, endearing and at times gruff like the best dialogues of the „Alltagspoeten“ („all-day poets“), yearningly sensual with an awareness of the great history and jarring like a dance in the Bermuda Triangle (a Vienna quarter known for its many pubs and bars). The writer Karl Kraus said: „The streets of Vienna are paved with culture. The streets of other cities are paved with asphalt.“ To me, the Vienna sky is filled with sound, that of other cities with air. 

I recognised quickly that Vienna is not only the city of music, Vienna itself is music. An orchestra here can not only be a broadcaster of tones, but is well advised to open its own ears. It is inspired by the sounds of its native city, its people, the soundtrack of Vienna - by music from the past and the sounds of today.  

What a privilege it is that the city's orchestra can be at home in the most beautiful halls, in the Musikverein and the Wiener Konzerthaus, and regularly – for the opera – in the MusikTheater an der Wien. But it is also important to leave these beautiful „living rooms“ regularly to get a breath of the air out there, the air of the people, the air of life. And that’s exactly what we do again and again, always with curiosity. We celebrate the colourful summer in the Prater, the contemplative advent in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, we play in the pubs of the city, in the neighborhood football cages, in schools and Vienna’s sports facilities, and we engage in dialogue with the exhibitions in our museums by performing chamber music. The Wiener Symphoniker are the resonating body of this wonderful city.   

One of my first visits, even before I took up my post as artistic director, was to the Wiener Symphoniker's archive. In a grey, fireproof filing cabinet in the Wiener Konzerthaus, I found the first „call“ for our orchestra. „The purpose of the Wiener Concert-Verein,“ it said, „is to organise symphony concerts at moderate admission prices, as well as popular orchestral concerts, at which classical works are to be performed in appropriate combination with works of a lighter nature, but of musical value.“ And then it read: „An orchestra which should also enable wider circles of the music-loving population of Vienna to enjoy symphonic music.“ It was clear to me that 125 years later, when the Wiener Symphoniker celebrate their anniversary, this arc should be completed again: an orchestra with something for all the people of the city. An orchestra that every Viennese should be able to experience at least once a year. An orchestra that embodies the sound of Vienna. 

And so we began our walk towards the anniversary year. Our seasons were entitled „Puls der Stadt“ („Pulse of the City“), „Inmitten der Stadt“ („Amidst the City“) and „Echo der Stadt“ („Echo of the City“) – and everything culminates in the title of this anniversary season: „Orchester der Stadt“ („Orchestra of the City“). My visits to the Wiener Symphoniker’s archive have made me realise this: The orchestra should be approachable for everyone, but it is also a profoundly musical sounding body. Enthusiasm for music is most easily sparked by the highest quality. The Wiener Symphoniker have always combined breadth and excellence. And that is exactly what we wish to reflect in this very special anniversary season.  

I think of the Wiener Symphoniker as a modern orchestra. An orchestra that is aware of the past and constantly translates the values of the past into a contemporary present. Just as the city of Vienna has changed over the last 125 years, so have the Wiener Symphoniker. Since its foundation, this orchestra has always been connected to the „now“, to being in the city, to the musical life of today – to the ears of the present. The Wiener Symphoniker have always embraced new developments, democratic and participatory elements and, above all, innovative compositions. Constant reinvention is part of our history.

Our journey to the anniversary season started four years ago with a major rebranding process in which the orchestra's musicians were actively involved. In terms of appearance, we orientated ourselves towards the turn of the century, when the Wiener Symphoniker premiered the works of great composers such as Arnold Schönberg. We commemorate the legendary premiere of the opulent Gurre-Lieder at the Musikverein this year. Schönberg himself conducted the world premiere of his symphonic poem „Pelleas and Melisande“, and Franz Schmidt’s „The Book with Seven Seals“ was also a trailblazing world premiere, which we commemorate in the anniversary season. Of course, we remain true to the tradition of new works: Marcus Nigsch will write a cello concerto for the Wiener Symphoniker, which will be given its first performance at the Musikverein. Our anniversary season is also a reminder that the Wiener Symphoniker are the orchestra of great symphonic works: Bruckner's 9th Symphony was premiered by the orchestra in a setting by Ferdinand Löwe, Gustav Mahler himself conducted the Austrian premiere of his Symphony No. 6 with the orchestra, Hans Swarowsky conducted the world premiere of Richard Strauss’ „Rosenkavalier“ Suite as part of the 950th anniversary celebrations of Austria. All these works are on the programme for the anniversary season, and our birthday concert on 30 October 2025 will also commemorate works premiered by the symphony orchestra with Maurice Ravel’s piano concerto for the left hand. 

It goes without saying that the chief conductor of a modern orchestra is first and foremost responsible for its excellence. And I am delighted by the wonderful coincidence that our anniversary season is also Petr Popelka’s inaugural season. A conductor who, in my view, embodies the modern orchestra, who sees music as a collective adventure, but who is above all a musicologist and composer himself, who always places the works in the context of the world. In his debut concert, he introduces one of the most important composers for him: Béla Bartók.  

Its conductors are of tremendous importance to the orchestra: we got to know Marie Jacquot at the „Living Room Concerts“ during the Corona pandemic, she is now our Principal Guest Conductor and has just been appointed Chief Conductor Designate of the WDR Symphony Orchestra. I am delighted that our former and much-loved chief conductors will be returning for this anniversary season: Philippe Jordan with Mahler’s Eighth and Fabio Luisi with Schmidt’s „The Book with Seven Seals“. After all, the line-up of our former chief conductors is also an expression of our music-making. Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Swarowsky, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Georges Prêtre have all shaped who we are today. 

It is always especially exciting for an orchestra when it can pack the soundtrack of its city into its instrument cases and go on tour. I am delighted that we are travelling with a very thoughtfully selected programme for the anniversary season: María Dueñas will interpret Bruch’s violin concerto and Marie Jacquot will conduct a quite remarkable composition: Anton Bruckner’s Adagio from the Symphony No. 7 in an arrangement for 16 brass instruments, percussion and timpani by our very first principal conductor Ferdinand Löwe. This moving piece was played on 11 October 1896 in Vienna’s Karlskirche – at Anton Bruckner’s consecration, who had just died. On my walks through Vienna, I am often drawn to this wonderful church. And I envision how an ensemble of the Symphony Orchestra played the last farewell to one of the greatest composers here: so intimate, so moving, so beautiful. For me, these are true Vienna goosebumps moments. And I am convinced that the audience in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Alte Oper Frankfurt or the Liederhalle in Stuttgart will all of a sudden breathe that unique Vienna air full of music when they hear this piece.