A Passion for Drawing. The Guerlain Collection from the Centre Pompidou Paris
(October 11th 2019 – January 26th 2020)

Since the 1990s, Florence and Daniel Guerlain have devoted themselves to contemporary drawing and have built up an extensive collection of works by international artists. Every year, the Prix de dessin is also advertised by them and awarded by a jury.
In 2013, a part of the collection – 1200 drawings – was donated to the Center Pompidou in Paris. The Albertina is now the first museum in Central Europe with a selection of highlights from this compilation to give an insight into the collecting activity of the Guerlains.

(1., Albertina, www.Albertina.at)

Vienna Coffee Festival
(January 10th 2020 – January 12th 2020)

From the 10th to the 12th of January, Europe’s coffee scene will meet again at the Vienna Coffee Festival. The incomparable award “World’s coolest coffee event” in addition to the excellent offer around coffee & Co. like music ,good food and drinks make the the atmosphere very unique. A fascinating journey  through the world of coffee for young and old.
(16., Ottakringer Brewery, www.viennacoffeefestival.cc )

Viennese ball season

Each year Vienna hosts around 450 balls, from elegant high society galas to wild carnival parties. Enjoy the three-quarter rhythm of the waltz at the Confectioners’Ball (January 16th 2020.), Ball of the Vienna Philharmoniker (January 23rd 2020), the Rainbow Ball  (January 25th 2020), the world-famous Opera Ball (January 20th 2020) and many more.
(more balls: www.wien.info)

Holiday on Ice – Showtime
( January 29th 2020 –  February 9th 2020)

The most successful ice show in the world brings the program “Showtime” to the Wiener Stadthalle from January 29: The spectacular production traces the history of the most visited show on the ice.
Holiday on Ice presents a journey through its own success story. From the first casting to the world-wide success, the ice acrobats demonstrate firsthand what it means to live for the stage and for the applause. The audience is there when the first figure skaters are cast, goes on tour around the world and accompanies the show crew through fabulous sceneries of a success story. Right up to the throbbing finale on the ice stage, “Showtime” shows a showcast in its unbridled quest for perfection.

(15. Roland-Rainer-Platz 1,  www.stadthalle.com/de/schauen/events/799/Holiday-on-Ice-SHOWTIME )

Wiener Opernball 2020
(February 20th 2020)

At the Vienna Opera Ball on 20 February 2020, the Vienna State Opera is transformed into the world’s most famous ballroom. This ball of balls creates opportunities for encounters between artists, politicians, businesspeople, and ball enthusiasts.

The calendar of the Viennese ball season is filled with more than 450 balls. The Vienna Opera Ball is the most glamourous of them all, and thanks to TV broadcasting, it reaches an audience of millions at home and abroad. Anyone who cannot celebrate on-site with the 5,150 ball guests can enjoy the opening ceremony, music, dance, and interviews on TV.

(1., Opernring 2, www.wiener-staatsoper.at  )

21st International Akkordeon Festival
(February 22nd-March 22nd 2020)

21st Vienna Restaurant Week
(March 2nd – March 8th 2020)

The Vienna Restaurant Week is one of the culinary highlights of the year and offers an ideal opportunity to discover the city’s diverse top gastronomy. Around 75 top restaurants with up to three toques take part in the Culinary Week and offer excellent menus at discounted all-inclusive prices.
Various establishments (www.restaurantwoche.wien)

Vienna Easter Markets
(March 28th – April 14th 2020 )

37. Vienna City Marathon
(April 19th 2020)

The Vienna City Marathon is a huge international event that takes 42,000 runners from 125 nations past Vienna’s most beautiful sights. One million spectators cheer them on.

(Information, packages & registration: www.vienna-marathon.com)

Musikverein Festival
(May 8th – June 13th 2020)

From Zemlinsky’s “13th Psalm” to Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the Musikverein Festival 2020 spans a wide range of works – and like so many works in this programme, these two have their very own resonance in the Musikverein. Mahler and Zemlinsky came to the Musikverein as students of the Conservatory, where they received the tools for their great careers as composers and conductors.
Now the house in which they studied is 150 years old. The final concert of the International Beethoven Piano Competition is also part of the festival programme!
(1st, Musikverein, www.musikverein.at)

Genussfestival in Vienna Central park
(May 8th – May 10th 2020)

The motto “The very best from Austria” will once again apply to the top culinary festival in Vienna’s Stadtpark in May 2020, where more than 190 producers and culinary manufacturers will offer their specialities from all over Austria.
(1st, City Park, www.genuss-festival.at)

VeVinum
(June 6th–June 8th 2020 )

The VIEVINUM Wien fair is the international wine festival. Around 550 renowned winegrowers and wine trading companies from all over the world present their national and international assortment of more than 2,500 wines at the VIEVINUM Messe Wien and invite you to taste and discuss. In addition, visitors to the VIEVINUM Messe Wien have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of wine at top-class supporting events.
(1st, Hofburg, www.vievinum.at)

ViennaPride, Life Ball and Rainbow Parade
(June 1st – June 14th 2020)

Numerous events campaign for the rights of lesbians, gays, transgenders, bisexuals, intersexuals and many more. Parties and cultural events make sure that fun is not missed out either.
On June 13th 2020, the Rainbow Parade will take place for the 25th time along the Vienna Ringstrasse. It is the highlight of Vienna Pride, which will fly the rainbow flags all over Vienna for two weeks.
(https://viennapride.at)

37th Danube Island Festival
(June 26th-June 28th 2020)

With around three million visitors, the three-day Danube Island Festival is the world’s largest open-air festival.
Free admission! (www.donauinselfest.at)

Music Film Festival at City Hall Square
(End of June-Beginning of September 2020)

In July and August there is a special treat for music film fans with outstanding operas, balletts, classical and pop concerts – free admission!
Open-air gastronomic services provide culinary delights late into the night.

(1. Rathausplatz, www.filmfestival-rathausplatz.at)

ImPulsTanz
(July 9th-August 9th 2020)

From July 9th, the renowned dance festival once again presents a whole month of professional stage performances with international performing artists and innovative works by talented newcomers. A bunch of workshops get everyone dancing: beginning, professional, children and the young at heart.

(Various locations. www.impulstanz.com)

11th Popfest Wien (July 23rd -July 26th 2020)

The Vienna Popfest offers Austrian musicians and a number of international guests a highly respected live platform for innovative pop music in its various guises for the tenth time. The playing continues for four days and nights on Kunstplatz Karlsplatz, both open-air and indoors in the art and culture establishments – free admission!

(4. Karlsplatz, www.popfest.at)

16th Africa Days
(July 17th – August 3rd 2020)

With African flair, music, dance, international artists and a colourful bazaar, the Afrika Tage Wien is a great celebration. For 18 days you can haggle for beautiful handicrafts at countless stands. The
culinary offer is exotic and takes the connoisseur into another world. Music, smells and colourfulness connect the people in Africa. One is gripped by the wanderlust when the 16th Africa Days Vienna take place at the Danube Island from July 17th to August 3rd 2020.

(Danube Island, wien.afrika-tage.de)

Summer in the Museumsquartier
(June-September 2020)

Vienna Vine Hiking Days
(End of September 2020)

(Numerous routes; www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/natuerlich/weinwandertag.html )

Buskers Festival
(September 11th -September 13th 2020)

(4., Karlsplatz, www.buskers.at)

MQ Vienna Fashion Week
(Mid of September 2020)

For the eleventh time this year, the MQ Vienna Fashion Week is pitching its fashion tent in front of the Vienna MuseumsQuartier (MQ). Around 70 designers will be showing their collections on the catwalk – renowned fashion designers as well as newcomers.

(7., Museumplatz 1, www.viennafashionweek.com)

Wiener Wiesn – Festival
(September 24th -October 11th 2020 ) 

The tenth Wiener Wiesn-Festival, with the famous Giant Ferris Wheel as its backdrop, is set to take place in the autumn of 2020. The festival offers great entertainment in traditional Viennese style. Three festival tents offer a different program of music. Visitors young and old can look forward to 700 hours of live music. Local beer and tasty treats ranging from Wiener Schnitzel to Brettljause (cold cuts served on a wooden plate) provide the right accompaniment to the musical enjoyment.

The Wiener Wiesn-Fest kicks things off daily at 11.30 am with a traditional pre-lunch tipple. On individual days, Austria’s provinces will present their own customs, cuisine and music. Brass bands will perform alongside groups demonstrating the customs of each of the regions. In the afternoons, there are free concerts by the hit stars Andy Borg, Udo Wenders, Roberto Blanco, Stefan Mross, Nino de Angelo, Jazz Gitti, Marc Pircher and numerous folk music bands, including Die wilden Kaiser, Die Edlseer and Die Jungen Zillertaler. Admission to the festival tents is free daily until 6.00 pm.

(2., Prater, www.wienerwiesnfest.at)

Vienna Design Week
( September 25th – October 4th 2020)

Vienna Design Week turns the city into an annual design hotspot – this year for the fourteenth time. In collaboration with Vienna’s museums, product manufacturers and designers from all over the world, the festival offers a variety of opportunities to learn more about the topic of design, with over 100 events, exhibitions, installations, tours, workshops, and plenty of parties.

(3., Althan Quartier. www.viennadesignweek.at)

Long night of museums
(October 3rd 2020)

The next “ORF long night of museums” takes place on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 all over Austria. Museums and galleries open their doors from 6 pm to 1 am for night owls with an interest in culture. On top of the varied exhibitions, they offer many exciting events and special presentations. Visitors can choose their personal highlights from a wide variety and can visit all participating locations and events with only one ticket.
In addition to small museums full of curiosities and big famous cultural institutions, numerous new locations take part this year, waiting to be discovered by the visitors of the “Long Night”.

(Numerous museums;  langenacht.orf.at )

Film – Festival Viennale
(October 22nd -November 4th 2020)

The Viennale is Austria’s most important international film event, as well as one of the oldest and best-known festivals in the German-speaking world. Every October, the Viennale takes place in beautiful cinemas in Vienna’s historic center, providing the festival with an international orientation and a distinctive urban flair.

In its program, the Viennale shows a carefully picked selection of new films from all over the globe as well as from Austria, some of them international premieres. The choice of about 300 films offers a cross-section of bold film-making which stands apart from the aesthetics of mainstream conventionality and is politically relevant.In the program you will find great titles premiered around the world, from Cannes to Buenos Aires, in a great variety of forms and lengths, as well as tones and genres.

(Numerous locations;  www.viennale.at)

Vienna Jazz Floor
(November 1st -November 31st 2020)

153 concerts in one month in eleven Viennese clubs: this is the wealth of live music offered by the ViennaJazzFloor Festival in November. Good sound and a good atmosphere are guaranteed – and that for the 22nd time in 2020.
Jazz and blues thrive in the world capital of music, and so there are many small venues with exquisite acts. Once a year – in November, the “Month of Jazz and Blues” – the scene celebrates the ViennaJazzFloor Festival and invites internationally renowned jazz musicians to eleven Viennese clubs: Blue Tomato, Gemischter Satz, Jazzland, Martinschlössl, Miles Smiles, Reigen, Sargfabrik, Tunnel, Zwe, Local and 1019 Jazzclub.
Never before has the ViennaJazzFloor been so large and diverse. The palette ranges from classical jazz and swing to modern, impro and funk. The blues as a root is of course not missing.

(Various locations, www.viennajazzfloor.at)

Winter awakening in the Museumsquartier
(Early November-December 12th 2020)

In the MuseumsQuartier, even the coldest winter days are hot. In November and December, special punch creations, live concerts, DJ sounds and all kinds of action make sure of that.

The MuseumsQuartier in Vienna is a popular meeting place not only in summer. At the “Winter Awakening at the MQ” the inner courtyard is transformed into an atmospheric winter location. In walk-in design objects – called MQbis – unusual punch specialities are served to warm up. The stretched out winter sky not only protects against rain and snow, but is also illuminated with artistic projections. The trees also shine in an artistic light. In the water basin of the MuseumsQuartier, remote-controlled cars race in the “Winter Race”. Competitions can also be held on two curling rinks and in micro extreme bowling, a mixture of bowling, billiards and golf.

Those looking for Christmas presents will find them at the WinterWAMP design market in the MQ courtyard. Here, in December, weekly changing designers present their products!

(7th, Museumsquartier. www.mqw.at/winter)

Art&Antique Fair
(November 7th-November 15th 2020)

ART&ANTIQUE Wien is a fair for art, antiques and design. Around 50 regional and supra-regional galleries, whose rank and importance stand up to international standards, present themselves at the ART&ANTIQUE Messe Wien with their extensive range of modern and contemporary art, Asian art, antiques, paintings and graphics, glass, furniture and handicrafts, as well as jewellery, carpets, sculptures and collections or even Art Nouveau, Art Deco and design. An attractive supporting programme rounds off the range of exhibits at the Vienna ART & ANTIQUE fair.

(1., Horburg www.artantique-hofburg.at)

KlezMore Festival
(November 2020)

Jewish Klezmer music inspires with rousing melodies and exuberant singing. From November 10th to 25th, ensembles from all over the world play in Viennese theatres, music clubs, but also in churches. The intense Klezmer sounds have their origin in medieval Eastern Europe, when Jewish travelling musicians played at weddings and other festivities. Violins, clarinets and flutes imitate the human voice and create gripping melodies to rousing rhythms. Today this traditional music is being reinterpreted by many young artists. Klezmer has long been world music.

(Various venues; www.klezmore-vienna.at)

Vienna Christmas Markets
(November 13th 2020-January 6th 2021)

From mid-November until Christmas, Vienna’s most beautiful squares are transformed into enchanting Christmas markets. The smell of Christmas bakery, hot punch and roasted almonds is in the air. The Old Town and shopping streets are decorated with festive lights and put the city in a Christmassy mood.

(Various venues)

Closing Ceremony Beethoven Year 2020
(December 16th 2020)

In 2020, the City of Vienna will celebrate the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven, a Viennese by choice who, like no other musician in Vienna, has shaped the European idea of idealism and thus Europe’s intellectual history and continues to do so to this day. Vienna as the world capital of music is hard to imagine without Beethoven,” was how the extensive activities for the coming year were justified in Vienna. On 16 December 2020, the 250th birthday of the composer, the closing event of “WIENBEETHOVEN 2020” will also take place in the City Hall at 18:00.

(1., City Hall beethoven2020.wien.gv.at/site/)

New Year’s Eve in Vienna
(Decmeber 31st 2020)

At the turn of the year the whole of Vienna celebrates and dances. The New Year’s Eve Trail in the Old Town is the highlight. But also at the gala dinner and the festive ball, good spirits are just as much the order of the day as in the concert hall, the opera, the hip club or in the chic bar.
On 31 December, the Old Town of Vienna is transformed into a huge party area: from 2 p.m. in the afternoon until 2 a.m., the New Year’s Eve Trail in the city centre, on Rathausplatz and in the Prater guarantees the best entertainment.
Along the New Year’s Eve Trail dozens of restaurateurs serve punch and culinary specialities. Numerous stations provide entertainment with show programmes, waltzes, operettas, rock, pop, DJ lines and pop music. The Classic Mile on the Graben is particularly popular. In the afternoon, the Viennese dance schools offer lightning and waltz dance courses here and transform the Graben into a fantastic open-air ballroom. At midnight there are big fireworks at Rathausplatz and in the Prater.

(www.wienersilvesterpfad.at)