ViennaConcert-Verein

In 1987 musicians of the Vienna Symphony re-founded the Wiener Concert-Verein as an independent chamber orchestra playing the Viennese Classics as well as the music of our own time. The name goes back to the original designation of the Vienna Symphony.

The musicians come from more than nineteen nations, among them Austria, Ukraine, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Kazakhstan. What unites them is a first-class training and the pleasure of playing together. Franz Michael Fischer is concertmaster; Mira Weihs has been artistic director since 2020.

Since 1993 the Wiener Concert-Verein has presented its own cycle in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. It is complemented by a contemporary music series in cooperation with the vorarlberg museum in Bregenz and, since 2024, by the SCHALLWENDE festival in Feldkirch. Tours have taken the orchestra to Asia and North America and to European festivals.

Composer in Residence

In a collaboration between composers and orchestra that is unique in Austria, the Wiener Concert-Verein has invited a composer in residence every season since 1993. They have included Richard Dünser, Rainer Bischof, Gottfried von Einem, Kurt Schwertsik, Thomas Daniel Schlee, Bert Breit, Helmut Eder, Ivan Eröd, Gerd Kühr, Gerhard Wimberger, Herbert Willi, Paul Walter Fürst, Dirk D’Ase, Balduin Sulzer, Wolfram Wagner, Thomas Wally, Helmut Schmidinger, Reinhard Süss and Gerald Resch. The 2011/12 season was devoted to Julia Purgina, 2014 to Gabriele Proy and 2015 to Alfred Huber. From 2022 to 2024 Richard Dünser held the position again.

Since the 2023/24 season the orchestra has also worked with Artistic Partners. The conductor Glass Marcano was the first; the violinist Timothy Chooi and the composer Johanna Doderer joined in 2025/26.

World premieres

Since its foundation the ensemble has given the first performances of more than 150 works, among them compositions by Heinz Karl Gruber, Richard Dünser, Rainer Bischof, Kurt Schwertsik, Helmut Eder, Thomas Daniel Schlee and Paul Walter Fürst, the opera “Strom” by Johanna Doderer and the one-act opera “Radek” by Richard Dünser, as well as works by Gerd Kühr, Gerhard Wimberger, Herbert Willi, Gerald Resch, Reinhard Süss, Dirk D’Ase, Christian Ofenbauer, Franz Thürauer, Helmut Schmidinger, Raffaele Bellafronte, Werner Steinmetz and Wolfram Wagner.