Vienna's best opera experience
 

Which opera should we choose to have the best opera experience. We are not opera lovers but just want the experience of going to the opera in Vienna.

It is no more "special" going to the opera in Vienna or in London if you don't like Opera. Anyway, for the setting and the quality of the performances...the Staatsoper (Vienna Opera House).

I would recommend an operetta at the Volksoper. Good lighthearted fun for those who don't especially enjoy opera.

You may have little choice of those recommended.
The State Opera and Volksoper are both closed for the summer after June 30.
The state Opera reopens for the season September 4- the Volksoper September 7

I'm not crazy about opera either, and I took a tour rather than see an opera. The guide was great, and I got see side rooms and the stage, which I probably wouldn't have had I been in attendance. Plus, I only paid 2 Euros (a student price, though).

Go to the Vienna info website:
http://info.wien.at/

Click on English, then on Events. There is an Event Database where you can search for the operas that will be performed during the days you are in Vienna.

Once you know what is being performed, you can ask about particular operas.

You might find it helpful to read the
plot summary in advance for the opera.
Even if it's not in your native language,
you can follow the action and enjoy
the lovely sets and costumes. I take middle school students to American operas and they enjoy the pageantry of it, even
if they do giggle a bit at the voices
and dramatic gestures.

I am an opera goer from years back. My favorite performances are of Carmen (2 times) and Turandot at the Opera Bastille in Paris.

HOWEVER, for the performances that were the most fun where I really enjoyed myself were as at the Volksoper in Vienna. We attended performances of Die Fledermaus and Die Lustige Witwe (Merry Widow.) The music was lively, well sung, and the audience was into it.

For example at the beginning of the last act of Die Lustige Witwe, the producer had interpolated Offenbach's CanCan music into the production. The woman singing the role of Valencienne and the 6 Grisettes (7 dancers in all) danced it. The trumpets in the orchestra stood up and blasted away with full gusto.

The audience howled and cheered until the conductor granted two encores. After the 3rd go round, the singer/actress doing Valencien signaled NO MORE. She was pooped.

If you want a really serious opera, then try to find a performance of Carmen or La Traviata. The music in either one is good enough to preclude the necessity of knowing exactly what is going on.

However, with Carmen, I think the situation is clear. A sultry Carmen can make you understand why that soldier boy decided to desert afterall.

The better the singer doing Carmen, the better the performance. Irina Mishura is just that type of singer if you are lucky enough to hear her!!

Of course, you might like Aida. I did.
In Vienna, that means Die Stadtsoper.

OO{S Staatsoper

Oh well, nice performances at the Vienna Volksoper! That must have been years ago... things are changing, as you know. The Volksoper has the third consecutive manager now (all short-term, of course) who has been totally unsuccessful, and the theatre is as run-down as never before in its more than 100 years history. In September, a new manager is taking over, and maybe he will succeed in what has to be a real resurrection of a once interesting theatre. As long as this resurrection has not been proved and tested: hands off the Volksoper, if you take my advice. But for two or so years, Vienna has a new third opera house (the most traditional of the three, in fact, but used to be a musical theatre for decades, Cats and the like), the Theater an der Wien. No big achievements here, so far, but a more decent standard than at the poor Volksoper, and an alternative if you're going in summer - they're always open!
But of course, if you really want to have the experience, the Staatsoper is the place to go (maybe not without asking here or elsewhere about the performances available when you're there).