Find articles | Chanda VanderHart

Ahead of the Grafenegg Festival’s 20th edition this year, artistic director Rudolf Buchbinder talks about Grafenegg’s new hall that carries his name, and why he is more nervous in performance than ever.

Lorenzo Viotti leads the orchestra through a Zemlinsky Seejungfrau of fantastical proportions that is nothing short of magical, a stunning testament to a composer whose genius we are only just beginning to fully appreciate.

The Polish countertenor's recital trades on his gifts as a musician and his superstar persona, sometimes to an uneasy effect

In Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, Yulianna Avdeeva commands attention through sheer innate charisma, anchored in intense engagement.

Less a symphony, more a force of nature, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in a turbulent, yet spacious reading of Mahler's Ninth Symphony in the Musikverein. 

Zubin Mehta, Pinchas Zukerman and the Vienna Philharmonic meet in repertoire they know intimately, illuminating it through mutual understanding. 

The creative team behind the new Staatsoper Clemenza is unwilling to trust that Mozart’s opera is interesting enough to stand on its own. 

Chanda VanderHart talks to the American tenor about his Tristan debut at the Met, his love for Vienna and Otto Schenk, and the incredible scope of his repertoire.

On their European tour, the Toronto Symphony calls in at the Wiener Konzerthaus for a diverse program conducted by Gustavo Gimeno.

Batiashvili’s account of the Tchaikovsky concerto confirms why she remains one of the most compelling violinists of her generation.

At the Konzerthaus, the Vienna Philharmonic travels across the Austrian borders with Jakub Hrůša into the varied sound worlds of Hungary, Bohemia and Moravia.

A dizzying premise from Martina Eisenreich and Axel Ranisch, loosely drawing on Johann Strauss II’s unfinished ballet Aschenbrödel, which tries to be everything, all at once. 

Herheim’s Fledermaus is a risky experiment that, miraculously, works – at least in a city that knows it so intimately.

The Vienna Philharmonic's first concert at this year's Salzburg Festival pairs Oedipus Rex with the Symphonie fantastique, with Esa-Pekka Salonen stepping in for Lorenzo Viotti. 

At MusikTheater an der Wien, Miroslav Srnka’s new opera provess a deeply compelling, meticulously crafted work. It may not uplift, but it sears itself into the memory.

For the first time in its 165-year subscription series, a female conductor leads a Vienna Philharmonic subscription concert. 

Under the baton of Domingo Hindoyan, the Tonkünstler brings Latin America and Dvořák's New World Symphony to the Musikverein. 

Damiano Michieletto directs a slick and frequently hilarious staging of Prokofiev's comic opera Betrothal in a Monastery. 

In a week where Vienna welcomes two new productions of Bellini's Norma, MusikTheater an der Wien sets a high bar with Vasily Barkhatov's staging. 

Omer Meir Wellber’s Mozart-Ullmann mash-up sounds like a terrible idea, but absolutely hits the mark. 

A “baptism by fire”... but not for Klaus Mäkelä, making his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein in Mahler's Sixth Symphony. 

A haunting, musically compelling impression of a woman whose life was shaped by creation, loss, and unfulfilled thirst for personal expression.

Lotte de Beer’s new retelling at the Volksoper reintroduces the element of shock into Bizet's popular opera. 

Karina Canellakis brings her Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to the Musikverein, joined by Emanuel Ax in Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

What do you get for the composer who made – and also kind of broke – everything? Arnold Schoenberg’s well-documented phobia of the number 13 aside, he could not have asked for a superior tribute in his 150th anniversary year.

Even if Igor Levit is not quite in his wheelhouse with Brahms, the Vienna Philharmonic plays a home game in the second half with his D major symphony. 

Martin G Berger exhaustively reworks the story and the libretto of Salieri's Cublai, gran kan de' Tartari and throws the kitchen sink at this new production, but not everything lands well. 

In the sacred golden temple that is the Musikverein, Martha Argerich plays Ravel's saucy Piano Concerto in G major, before the Philharmoniker and Zubin Mehta play Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. 

The Estonian Festival Orchestra revels in Dvořák and Tchaikovsky on the Vienna leg of its European tour with Paavo Järvi. 

Lydia Steier's new production of Candide is a kaleidoscopic celebration of Leonard Bernstein's varied musical idioms. 

The first premiere of the new Staatsoper season is a qualified success, led by Eleanora Buratto's superb Suor Angelica and Ambrogio Maestri's masterly Gianni Schicchi in Puccini's triptych of one-act operas. 

Marlene Monteiro Freitas directs her first opera, in which Lulu, if not buried alive, is certainly left completely unrecognizable. 

Vasily Barkhatov directs a new production of Mieczysław Weinberg's rarely staged, massive and unwieldy opera at the MuseumsQuartier. 

Brad Mehldau’s song cycle is a disappointment, the texts selected under the rubric of “desire” proving a major concern.

Despite an incapacitated Ying Fang miming the role of Susanna, the brilliant cast makes Barrie Kosky's new production worth the night out in Vienna. 

“Lima darf nicht Österreich werden!” Offenbach's operetta is set in Lima, but really it’s Vienna in director Nikolaus Habjan uproarious production. 

The French pianist steps in to join the American diva in the Musikverein for a program of French and German art song. 

There is magic aplenty in director Stefan Herheim’s bold recontextualization of Gian Carlo Menotti's holiday opera. 

They may seem like an odd pairing, but Wang and Kavakos defy the naysayers yet again, warming into a fascinating recital in Vienna.

Founded in 1988 by Claudio Abbado, Wien Modern is perfect for the contemporary-music curious, such as this complete traversal of George Crumb's masterpiece, housed in an art nouveau theater on Steinhof. 

In the Brahms Saal, Marc-André Hamelin juxtaposes three Russian composers with Schubert’s long misunderstood final piano sonata.

Herheim’s maiden voyage in his new capacity as Intendant confirms his ability to deftly negotiate a less-than-straightforward work with care and ambition and add his own voice enthusiastically to the mix.

An energized cast delivers in a visually eye-popping production as Monteverdi's opera appears at the Haus am Ring for the very first time. 

A more thoughtful and intentional artist is hard to come by today, and one who graces the Musikverein donning fabulous silver shoes on top of her pianistic gifts must be heaven-sent. 

The tenor and pianist pair Britten and Schubert in their Lieder recital on the stage of the Großer Saal. 

If in heaven there are indeed harps, then it would be hard to imagine a better angel to recruit than Anneleen Lenaerts, who performed Glière's concerto with her Philharmonic brothers and sisters in arms in the Musikverein. 

Pageantry abounds as the popular mezzo-soprano turns the Konzerthaus Wien into a sort of classical music, multisensory varieté.

Director Lotte De Beer's thoroughly realized, aesthetically rich and beautifully executed production of Janáček's masterpiece is anchored by strong performances from Nina Stemme and Svetlana Aksenova.

In much anticipated role (Kaufmann) and stage (Davidsen) debuts, this revival of Peter Grimes at the Staatsoper was much anticipated, despite a production that should be put out to sea without a paddle.

Kavakos’ restless approach was haunting, and during the cadenza he pared back his sound till it was nearly transparent, stopping breaths as we all leaned in.