Vienna Opera ball & Carnival

What:  The world’s most ele­gant Opera ball, the Vien­na opera ball con­cludes the Vien­nese car­ni­val sea­son with the cities opera house trans­formed into a glam­orous dance hall where fol­low­ing the glam­our of an open­ing cer­e­mo­ny and a resound­ing ren­di­tion of the Aus­tri­an Nation­al anthem 150 young cou­ples kick­start the cel­e­bra­tions with a care­ful­ly chore­o­graphed waltz rehearsed over the past year to the delight of 5,000 spec­ta­tors, polit­i­cal lead­ers, sports stars and nation­al icons.

While steeped in his­to­ry and ele­gance, the opera ball also comes with a strict eti­quette guide and dress code – includ­ing manda­to­ry wear­ing of evening gowns and suits, as the cel­e­bra­tions which fea­ture three tra­di­tion­al quadrille dances backed by some of the worlds best clas­si­cal musi­cians go on from dusk till dawn and ring out the Vien­nese car­ni­val in the most ele­gant of styles.

When: The opera ball takes place on the Thurs­day pre­ced­ing Ash Wednes­day every year – while the exact date changes you can expect the opera ball to take place in mid-Feb­ru­ary begin­ning at 10pm and last­ing until the ear­ly hours.   

Where: The opera ball takes places in Vienna’s Opera House in Aus­tria – where the main audi­to­ri­um will be trans­formed into the worlds best ele­gant opera dance floor over the 30 hours before the event – with rows of seats removes, stalls added and the main stage for the dances being con­struct­ed by some 600 con­struc­tion crew who work day and night to make sure the ball goes ahead.

Dura­tion: The Opera ball is ana evening event – with doors open­ing from 6pm and the offi­cial ball open­ing at 10pm – with a fan­fare, the singing of the Aus­tri­an and Europa Union nation­al anthems and the parade and dis­play of the dancers fol­lowed by the first waltzes. From here you can expect to see three per­for­mances of ‘quadrilles’ – one at mid­night, one at 2am and one at 4am ‑before the ball comes to a finale with a 6am cer­e­mo­ny which includes the dancers show­er­ing the audi­ence with a series of flow­ers in a for­bid­den yet tra­di­tion­al cel­e­bra­tion of the opera ball.

Tick­ets: Tick­ets are avail­able from the offi­cial Opera Ball web­site [https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/vienna-opera-ball/tickets/] or by email­ing reservierungen@opernball.at — with prices start­ing from 315 euros and going to 23,000 for a grand stage box, unfor­tu­nate­ly you need to be between 17–24 and be a mas­ter of waltz to take part in the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny waltz per­for­mance.

For those who don’t man­age to get tick­ets or find that the cost is a lit­tle out­side their bud­get there is also the dress rehearsal and din­ner the night before where tick­ets start at 15€ — and tick­ets can be pur­chased either on the door or on the Opera wall web­site above.

Need to Know: A strict eti­quette and dress code is enforced for atten­dees – which includes evening wear for gen­tle­man and evening gowns for ladies – it’s also high­ly advised to book in advance as tick­ets and accom­mo­da­tion sell out ear­ly.

More Infor­ma­tion: The offi­cial opera ball web­site [https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/your-visit/faq/] hosts a range of infor­ma­tion about the opera ball includ­ing the expect­ed guests, the eti­quette guide, and the per­for­mances to be expect­ed dur­ing the Quadrille’s.