Musikverein Golden Hall

Background

The Musikverein stands in Vienna's Inner City, with its main entrance on Musikvereinsplatz, between Karlsplatz and Bösendorferstraße, behind the Hotel Imperial on the Kärntner Ring. Its great hall is popularly called the Golden Hall (Goldener Saal); its formal name is the Großer Musikvereinssaal. The building was designed in Neoclassical style by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen and opened on 6 January 1870. The hall is 49 metres long, 19 metres wide and 18 metres high, with 1,744 seats and 300 standing places, and its interior is largely gilded woodwork. Its acoustics are often ranked alongside those of the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Symphony Hall in Boston, and it is considered one of the world's best concert halls; it is also the venue of the annual Vienna New Year's Concert. The present organ was originally installed in 1907 by the Austrian firm Rieger and rebuilt in 2011. The second-largest hall, the Brahms Hall, has 600 seats and is praised as "a true little treasure chest"; an underground extension completed in 2004 added four halls: the Glass, Metal, Wooden and Stone Halls. During the construction of the Ringstraße in 1863, the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna was granted a plot of land for a new concert hall; the Vienna Philharmonic has been based here since the opening in 1870. The principal donor was the industrialist and liberal politician Nikolaus Dumba, after whom a nearby small street, Dumbastraße, was named; another important donor, Simon Sinas, was likewise of Aromanian descent. The hall's lively acoustics stem mainly from Hansen's intuition: the narrow shoebox shape, thick plaster walls and multiple reflecting and diffusing surfaces create strong lateral reflections and a warm, full and clear sound.

Local customs

• Attend a concert and take in the acoustics of the shoebox hall and its gilded woodwork
• experience Vienna's annual musical tradition in the New Year's Concert season
• if there is a chamber music performance, enjoy a smaller-scale concert in the Brahms Hall.

Travel tips

• Ticket prices, schedules and seating are as officially announced
• for popular concerts, check early through official channels
• on the day, arrive early to allow time for security checks and finding your seat. The Musikverein is in Vienna's Inner City and reachable by public transport
• check official information for specific routes.
• There are performances all year
• the New Year's Concert takes place at the start of each year, with programmes as officially announced.