Vienna Concerts

Has anyone used Vienna Concerts.com to purchase tickets. They clain they do not have a service charge.

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This is a commercial business that I assume wants to make a profit. Perhaps, they do not call it a service charge, but you are paying something, somewhere for their services and mailing.

They are not the official site for The State Opera, Volks Opera or Philharmonic ( Musikverein). These institutions have their own ticket services.

They do offer tickets for the various Strauss/ Mozart concerts that dot the Vienna landscape.

You can buy the same tickets from street vendors dressed in %26quot; Period Costumes%26quot; near many tourist sites when you are in Vienna.

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Prior to our visit to Vienna in August this year, we booked a Mozart concert on line with this company. There was no apparent service charge to us, probably they get a commission from the concert provider.

Our tickets were confirmed within a day or so by email. The details were printed off and handed into the box office at the concert hall. All went without a hitch, and we enjoyed the concert very much.

Hope that helps.

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Thanks for the info. If we try the service, we will let you know.

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Having just returned from a delightful visit to Vienna, let me assure you that Vertical modestly understates the ready availability of %26quot;tourist%26quot; concert tickets from hawkers for the various venues, all in 18th century costumes (19th century for the Schonbrunn Palace concerts). No need to commit yourself in advance. In fact, it seems as if every itinerant musician in Mozart%26#39;s Vienna of 1781 has been reincarnated as a ticket vendor in the Innere Stadt.

One venue that%26#39;s promoted like the %26quot;tourist%26quot; concerts but actually has very high quality programs and performances (their somewhat ratty period costumes notwithstanding) is the so-called Mozart Haus, actually not the famous dwelling-house (which is currently closed for renovations during the run-up to the 2006 %26quot;Mozart Year%26quot;) but the close-by 14th-century Teutonic Order chapter house in Singerstrasse where Mozart allegedly once slept. We heard an excellent string quartet of young musicians from the East do a fine job with one of Mozart%26#39;s so-called %26quot;Salzburg Symphonies%26quot; (K.136) and his %26quot;Dissonant%26quot; Quartet.

If you%26#39;re serious about classical music, this may be the %26quot;tourist%26quot; concert for you. The other %26quot;tourist%26quot; venues seem to feature %26quot;Mozart%26#39;s/Strauss%26#39;s greatest hits,%26quot; and often only excerpts therefrom -- a good introduction for those who haven%26#39;t had much prior exposure to the genre, but perhaps not so satisfying for the hardcore fans.

For the %26quot;serious%26quot; venues like the Staatsoper, Musikverein, Volksoper, in addition to the official websites mentioned by Vertical (the operations of which have been described in great detail in previous postings on this Forum), we also found that our hotel concierge was able to obtain otherwise-unobtainable tickets (at a stiff premium, of course).

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Hey hoftraveler, good to see you%26#39;re back! So did you go to that Philharmoniker concert on the Sunday (18th)? I did but I was stuck in the Stehplatze and nearly coughed up a lung so left early - the acoustics sucked anyway, quite apart from the melodious coughing by moi, so I think the premium you paid for seats (if that was the event) was well worth it! Did you go to any operetta? I went to the Lustige Witwe on the Friday and thought it was lots of fun. Though why they had to winch her up on that seat/swing for the Vilja song beat me - she looked pretty petrified!

One tip I would add about the street vendors - at Pension Pertschy they warned the guests that some of the dressed-up folk are actually selling fake tickets. So they advised tickets be purchased from a bonafide ticket office or thru your hotel to make sure you%26#39;re getting the real thing. That wouldn%26#39;t really surprise me - some of those guys are *persistent*.

I would also recommend the concerts that take place (at irregular intervals) in the churches like Augustinerkirche, the Universitatkirche, Stephansdom etc etc The first of those has particularly fine concerts - and a really excellent choir. YOu%26#39;ll see bills posted about the town advertising these and tickets can usually be purchased in the church itself (this is in addition, of course, to the ordinary sung mass in these churches, which is also worth attending). They also tend to be cheaper than other venue concerts - but wear warm clothes in the winter months!

rol

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Roley, you beat me to it, I was just composing a note (so to speak) thanking you, Ailidh, and of course Vertical for all the advice and guidance we found so helpful during our time in Vienna (just back a couple of days ago, after Salzburg and then Prague following the Vienna segment). So here are the thanks, plain and simple.

We did indeed attend the Philharmoniker concert, but on the previous evening (same program), so we missed your hacking away. Maybe there was something going around, because I picked up a bad cough myself in Vienna and no doubt endeared myself to the other concert-goers in venues all over Austria. At the Musikverein, our seats were in the 5th row center -- I%26#39;ve never sat so close to a full symphony orchestra (not since I played in my college orchestra, anyway), and was afraid we%26#39;d be blown away, but the acoustics were perfect and the volume not overwhelming. And the performances were spectacular. I%26#39;m no R. Strauss fan, but if you%26#39;re going to hear %26quot;Death and Transfiguration,%26quot; the Wiener Philharmoniker obviously is the way to go.

We did not get to the Volksoper, and none of the church concerts during our free evenings appealed, but as noted in my previous post we did greatly enjoy the quartet at the Teutonic Order. If chamber music is to your taste, you might give them a try.

Thanks again for helping our Vienna visit go smoothly. I%26#39;ll continue to read your posts, and dream about our next trip.