Opera returns to Vienna with sold-out hotel ‘window concert’

Deserted by tourists, a hotel in Vienna gave itself a temporary one-night-only makeover, turning itself into an outdoor concert hall.

The guest bedrooms, which have stood empty during the coronavirus lockdown, were transformed into opera boxes for an evening, and the hotel courtyard into a stage to create a rare moment of joy in the city of music on Saturday.

Two opera singers and a string ensemble were invited to play at the Hotel Zeitgeist. 

As they performed in the courtyard, the spectators looked on from the windows of 40 or so rooms which they had rented for the evening.

And they approved, showering applause on to the head of the conductor and his soprano Monika Medek.

Paid bookings for the "window concert" were sold out in three days, hotel director Andreas Purtscher told AFP.

Purtscher said the concert was intended "to help people get out, to find a sense of normality in their contact with others."