Eistraum (Dream on Ice)

During the coldest months of Austrian winter, the monumental plaza between the Town Hall and the Burgtheater is flooded and frozen; lights, loudspeakers, and a stage are hauled in, and the entire civic core is transformed into a gigantic ice-skating rink. Sedate waltz tunes accompany the skaters during the day, and DJs spin rock, funk, and reggae after the sun goes down. Around the rink, dozens of kiosks sell everything from hot chocolate and snacks to wine and beer.

Opera Ball

On the last Thursday of the Fasching, Vienna’s high society gathers at the Wien Staatsoper for the grandest ball of the Carnival season. The evening opens with a performance by the Opera House Ballet.

Bregenz Spring Festival

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra usually appears at these concerts, which usher in the greening of the surrounding Alps.

Vienna Spring Festival

The festival has a different central theme every year, but you can always count on music by the world’s greatest composers, including Mozart and Brahms, at the Konzerthaus.

International Music Festival

This traditional highlight of Vienna’s concert calendar features top-class international orchestras, distinguished conductors, and classical greats. You might hear Beethoven’s Eroica as it was meant to be played, Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, and perhaps Bruckner’s Romantic. The list of conductors and orchestras reads like a who’s who of the international world of music.

Vienna Festival

An exciting array of operas, operettas, musicals, theater, and dances are performed. New productions of treasured classics are presented alongside avant-garde premieres, all staged by internationally prominent directors. In addition, celebrated productions from renowned European theaters offer guest performances. Anticipate such productions as Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne.

Midsummer Night Celebration

This celebration is held all over Austria, with bonfires and folkloric events. The liveliest observances are in the Tyrolean valley towns and in the Wachau region along the Danube in Austria.

Vienna Jazz Festival

This is one of the world’s top jazz events, using the Vienna State Opera as its central venue. The program calls for appearances by more than 50 international and local stars.

Vienna Summer of Music

This premier event fills the cultural calendar with concerts at City Hall, Schönbrunn Palace, and many landmark homes of great 19th-century Viennese musicians. Densely packed with musical options, the festival often features a series of different musical events on any given night.

Summer Stage, Vienna

Along the quays of the Donau Inlet, adjacent to the Friedensbrücke, midsummer is celebrated by hundreds of the young, the upwardly mobile, and the trendy who converge on the periphery of the city to enjoy the night air and one another’s company. Temporary stages present everything from performance art to live music. Adding to the revelry are the 20 or so seasonal bars that open their doors to the milling summer crowd every night from 5pm to 2am.

Music Film Festival

Opera, operetta, and masterful concert performances captured on celluloid are enjoyed free under a starry sky in front of the neo-Gothic City Hall on the Ringstrasse. Programs focus on works by Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, or other composers.

Viennale

This film festival shows everything from the most daringly avant-garde to golden oldies of the (mostly European) silver screen. Check the program to see which films will be in English or have English subtitles.

Vienna Schubert Festivale

This all-Schubert celebration marks its 27th annual observance in 2009. For information, contact Wiener Musikverein, Karlsplatz 6, A-1010 Vienna. It’s hele on the third week of November.

Christkindlmarkt

Look for pockets of folkloric charm (and, in some cases, kitsch) associated with the Christmas holidays. Small outdoor booths, known as Christkindlmarkt — usually adorned with evergreen boughs, red ribbons, and, in some cases, religious symbols — sprout up in clusters around Vienna. They’re selling old-fashioned toys, Tannenbaum (Christmas tree) decorations, and gift items. Food vendors will also be nearby offering sausages, cookies and pastries, roasted chestnuts, and kartoffel (charcoal-roasted potato slices).