A Visionary Return: milo Rau’s Second Season

The Vienna Festival Weeks are set to return from May 16 to June 22, 2025, under the direction of Swiss director Milo Rau. Following last year’s call for a Free republic of Vienna, Rau is transforming the festival into a Republic of Love. The festival, themed V IS for Love, will feature over 40 theater and music productions, installations, and community projects, encompassing more than 150 events of socio-political relevance.

Opening Ceremony: A Fusion of Punk, Classical, and Brass

The ceremonial opening, scheduled for Friday, May 16, on Vienna’s Rathausplatz, promises a reinterpretation of the total work of art. The program blends traditional viennese elements with global influences, featuring performances by international musicians alongside the Mozart Knabenchor Vienna and a traditional costume chapel. Radical queer and body-positive dancers will also take the stage, alongside the volume of the republic.

Musical director Herwig Zamernik, members of the caravan of Luv, oud player Khalid Rawi, and children from the mozart Knabenchor Vienna are among the participants. Eva Böhm, managing director of the deaf association Witaf, will provide a sign performance, interpreting the on-stage events for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers.

Star-Studded Performances

The opening will feature an eclectic mix of artists, including:

• Laurie anderson, US multimedia performance artist and musician
• Nicole, German ESC legend
• Soap & Skin (Anja Plaschg), Austrian singer-songwriter
• Serge Kakudji, Congolese Countertenor
• Nino from Vienna
• SODL (FM4 Award winner 2025)

The stage will transform into a pulsating place of coexistence, where diverse backgrounds unite to express diversity, love, and community. The artistic staging combines punk attitude with folk elements.

ORF Broadcast Details

The opening will be broadcast internationally on Friday, May 16, at 9:20 p.m.on ORF 2 and 3sat, and streamed on ORF ON. Felix Breisach will direct the broadcast, using eight cameras to capture the event.

statements from Key Figures

Veronica Kaup-Hasler, City Councilor for culture and Science, emphasized the festival’s importance, stating:

The Viennese festival weeks stand for a city of free art and dialog: for decades they have not only shaped the Viennese, but the European cultural area – and this year too, the festival weeks turn Vienna into a stage for the challenging and the connecting and the new. In a time of polarization and uncertainty, we need places that enable the reflection.
Veronica Kaup-Hasler, City Councilor for Culture and Science

She added that under Milo Rau’s direction, the festival becomes the art of social intervention, inviting reflection on the present. With the Viennese festival weeks, Vienna sends a strong signal into the world: Our society needs open and curious spaces for art and culture, she concluded.

Director Milo Rau stated:

We celebrate the opening of the Viennese festival weeks here, in the middle of Vienna, 80 years after the victory over fascism, combined in our multiplicity: a traditional chapel and a Mozart choir, Nicole, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, singer and musicians: inside from all over the world, from the USA, from Eastern and Central Europe, from Northern Irak. People who love punk, people who love Schlager and classical music.
Milo Rau,Director

Sharon Nuni,ORF TV department head,added:

As a public service broadcasting,it is a central concern for the ORF to make the cultural diversity and artistic power of the Viennese festival weeks accessible as a general public. Radical openness, for international perspectives and for an art that combines social relevance with aesthetic innovation.
Sharon Nuni, ORF TV department head

ORF Coverage

ORF will provide extensive coverage of the Vienna Festival Weeks 2025 across its platforms:

• Television: Zeit im Bild, Daytime programs, Vienna today, Cultural Monday (May 19), Culture today (7:40 p.m. on ORF III), and Sichrovsky Foyer (May 19).
• Radio: Ö1 Journals, Ö1 Kulturnal (Monday to Friday, 5:09 p.m.), and FM4.
• Online: news.ORF.at,wien.ORF.at, oe1.ORF.at, ORF Sound, and ORF ON.

Milo Rau will be featured in conversation on Ö1 (May 16, 4:00 p.m.), and Laurie anderson will be highlighted on Diagonal (June 21, 5:05 p.m., Ö1).

Events at the ORF Radioculturhaus

Several festival events will take place at the Vienna ORF Radioculturhaus, including:

• Laurie Anderson’s opening speech, State of Love (May 19, 8 p.m.).
• Stories that Matter summit (June 7-8,11:00 a.m.).
• Supernova academy concerts (June 15 and 22,7:45 p.m.).
• FM4 concert rail every Saturday, including Love hears hosted by Dalia Ahmed.

Digital Focus

ORF Topos will feature a multimedia focus with insights into the festival.ORF TELETEXT will provide details on opening events, highlights, and the program.

accessibility

The opening of the Vienna Festival Weeks 2025 will be accessible for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers with Austrian sign language (ÖGS) interpretation, available on ORF 2 Europe, ORF 2 W, and ORF ON via live stream.Barrier-free programs will also be available as video-on-demand on ORF.at.