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Viking romantic Danube, optional evg concert in Vienna


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Dad and I are contemplating booking this cruise for next year. Dad particularly wants to do this optional tour, but would like to know exactly what it entails. Has anyone participated? Can you remember where it was held? Which orchestra or ensemble played? And what music in particular was included. And approximate price? Many thanks.

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I just did this in June. It was held in an old palace, nice but little air ventilation and it was hot, especially as the chairs were very close together (narrow rows, too). It was a string quartet and a piano I think, plus dancers. I liked everything but being too warm. I was glad I did it.

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I just did this in June. It was held in an old palace, nice but little air ventilation and it was hot, especially as the chairs were very close together (narrow rows, too). It was a string quartet and a piano I think, plus dancers. I liked everything but being too warm. I was glad I did it.

 

Thanks so much for getting back to me. You mentioned dancers? What sort of dancing? ball room? and the music? was it classical and well known or more modern? Thanks.

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My experience was different. We were taken to the Hofburg Palace Library Hall and saw the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra and singers dressed in period costume performing mainly Strauss and Mozart overtures, opera selections, marches, and waltzes. That was in November two years ago. We are going again for the Christmas Markets this December, and will let you know if this has changed. I don't remember the cost, but it was not cheap. However, it was a very memorable evening and the music was excellent.

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It was the Vienna Residence chamber orchestra and the program was 1/2 Mozart and 1/2 Strauss. There were two singers-a soprano and a baritone. There were also two ballet dancers. Having a variety like this made it very entertaining. The only downside was the crowded room with no ventilation which quickly heated up.

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We were there in November. It's an old palace. Heating was inadequate so most people kept their coats on. The chairs were also not that comfortable.

 

Music was classical, played by moonlighting professional musicians. The music was far from "professional quality" for two reasons I could see: 1) the acustics in the hall was poor, 2) while skills of individual musiciens were not in question, they clearly didn't practice together.

 

The "dance" was purely for the tourist. They were ballet dancers but there's no story nor complete (or even segments) of any ballet.

 

Basically, nothing to write home about.

 

Unless you don't get much chance for mediocra quality classical music at home, my opinion the time would be much better spend walking around the city of Vienna, which is charming.

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We just returned from the AMA AMACerto and enjoyed greatly the night concert in Vienna. We went to the former Stock Exchange Building, walked up some stairs and sat in a room for 100-150 with a small stage. The room was comfortable (yes, it was a pleasant 70 degrees outside). It sure seemed to us the 4-5 musicians, the ballet dancer and the 2-3 opera singers played together before in their group. At a brief intermission champagne was served (as part of the excursion fee). We are not music purists or snobbish in this regard...all I can say is here I was, sitting in Vienna, in a concert hall, and listening to Mozart and Strauss. It was a special moment.

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Last September 17th I got to take my wife to the most elegant evening she's ever had for her birthday (Yes I know it was a fluke) - Dinner and a concert in Vienna. We listened to beautiful music, watched some superb ballet and were entertained by a first class tenor and soprano. All that with an amazing 5 course meal. The best part was that it was not an "optional extra" it was all part of the Tauck package. Without a shadow of doubt it was the "classical highlight" of our cruise.

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The Viennese Concert Evening in December as part of Uniworld's Danube Holiday Markets Cruise will indeed be the Vienna Residence Orchestra performing at the Auersperg Palace. A few people posted some nice pictures of it on YouTube. It was the setting for many important concerts in the past including Mozart's Idomeneo and works by by Haydn. However the night we are there, the Vienna Opera House also has an opera we want to see, so we have to make a decision about that! Wish we were spending more than one night in Vienna......

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I would also like to point out that the evening Vienna Concert is included as a regular tour, not as an optional excursion, on Uniworld's Danube Holiday trip. On my last trip, we paid upwards of 60 euros apiece for the optional evening, so this is a nice Holiday gesture on the part of Uniworld, but it does make it difficult NOT to go!

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  • 3 years later...

We booked an evening concert as a shore excursion on Viking Romantic Danube. Our weather was good, water levels not an issue, and still had trouble getting to the concert. The cruise director could tell that our schedule was off and made arrangements for two coach buses to meet us on a riverbank for a longer than planned drive to the concert. Because we were two bus loads, the concert waited for us. The evening was lovely, especially the champagne! The bus returned us to our planned for river port, rather than the countryside ramp we used to begin our evening. I would be cautious about doing this on your own. People who had planned their evening on their own for Vienna were disappointed.

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We booked tickets to the Vienna Residence Orchestra on our own.

The concert was excellent, but light (freelance musicians from the Vienna philharmonic and other very skilled musicicans). The concert was half Mozart and half Strauss - chamber orchestra, 2 singers and 2 ballet dancers. they played old chestnuts and the concert was quite light - My biggest complaint was that the concert was short.

Even though the concert was aimed at tourists and was light-weight, you wont go wrong with an evening of live music in a palace in Vienna:D

 

We thoroughly enjoyed it, and then went over to the Sacher Hotel Cafe for coffee and dessert.

 

Here is our blog with photos of the bows (no cameras for the actual performance)

 

http://maryandnormtravel.blogspot.ca/2013/10/vienna-by-night-sept-22-2013.html

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We thoroughly enjoyed it, and then went over to the Sacher Hotel Cafe for coffee and dessert.

 

http://maryandnormtravel.blogspot.ca/2013/10/vienna-by-night-sept-22-2013.html

 

Great pictures, looks like you had a great time!

 

After your coffee at the Hotel, did you have ample time to get back to the boat prior to its departure?

 

Do you recall what time departure time was from Vienna?

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Since you have plenty of time, you might want to consider booking a cruise when the opera company will be performing. On our last Danube cruise, one couple did this. They made reservations something like six months before the cruise since tickets can be hard to come by. Our ship left Vienna around midnight, so they had plenty of time to get back.

 

FuelScience

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