The beloved annual concert performed by the Vienna Philharmonic takes place in Schönbrunn Palace Park and is conducted for the first time by Maestro Tugan Sokhiev.
“So how’s your summer going?” is a typical conversation starter at any August gathering. The subject always turns to someone’s jealousy-inducing travel adventures. Well, you can enjoy a mini-vacation to one of Vienna’s most famous musical events as WETA PBS presents the 22nd annual Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2025.
Join the 60,000 people who flocked to Vienna’s famed Schönbrunn Palace Park on a beautiful evening in June to hear Maestro Tugan Sokhiev conduct the Vienna Philharmonic, starring tenor Piotr Beczala and, for the first time in the Summer Night Concert’s 22-year history, the Vienna Boys’ Choir. The program as always featured orchestral, opera and operetta favorites.
Viewing the concert is an almost immersive experience, as the cameras and drones give us close-ups of the performers, and rove over the magical setting of the Hapsburg's opulent summer palace and gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site. And unlike most of the attendees who had to stand during the show, we can enjoy the concert sitting in the comfort of our living rooms.
Despite the fairytale setting and the limpid skies, the concert started on a somber note. Just 3 days earlier, on June 10th, a tragic school shooting in Graz had taken the lives of 10 victims. First violinist and Chairman of the Board of the Orchestra, Daniel Froschauer, (who bears a strong resemblance to Herbert von Karajan) announced in German that the orchestra would play Bach’s Air on a G String in remembrance of the dead followed by a moment of silence. Maestro Sokhiev then added in English “as musicians, we hope music can help to ease the pain.”
After a respectful silence, the mood changed, and the Vienna Boys Choir came out on stage to sing the “Elves’ Song” from Offenbach’s Rhine Nixies. 2 Bizet pieces were next: the Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No.2 followed by Piotr Beczala singing “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” from Carmen. Beczala is a very busy tenor this summer, and he’ll be singing Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at the Met in November. He also sang Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot with some help from the Boys’ Choir, as well as some romantic Viennese tunes from Kálmán’s Countess Mariza and Léhar’s Giuditta. The concert ended with Johann Strauss’ Vienna Blut, a rousing tribute to the Viennese spirit which had people of all ages waltzing in the Schönbrunn's magical gardens. The Waltz King, Strauss himself, conducted this piece with the Vienna Philharmonic more than 150 years ago—the first Strauss waltz they ever performed.
As Piotr Beczala sang in Léhar’s Giuditta, “life is beautiful, so beautiful.” Since 1972, PBS’ Great Performances has been bringing this world of beauty to the American public television audience. We depend on this programming to enrich our lives, to bring us the best of the performing arts from the US and all around the world.
Watch Great Performances’ Vienna Summer Night Concert 2025 on Friday, 8/29 at 9p on WETA PBS or WETA Metro, or livestream it from WETA+ or the PBS App. Viewers can also stream it on-demand on WETA+ and the PBS App starting on 8/30.
Program:
Bach: “Air” from Orchestral Suite No.3
Offenbach: “Elves’ Song” from The Rhine Nixies
Bizet: Farandole from l’Arlésienne Suite No.2
La fleur que tu m’avais jetée from Carmen
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker
Dvorak: “Slavonic” Dance No.1
Mascagni: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
Puccini: Nessun Dorma from Turandot
Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila
Berlioz: Rakoczky March
Nicolai: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
Kálmán: Countess Maritza “Wenn es Abend wird/Grüss mir mein Wien”
Léhar: “Friends, Life is Well Worth Living” from Giuditta
Johann Strauss II: Vienna Blut
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