Besides food and museums and arts, music probably represents Vienna more than any other aspects. Even after two previous visits to the city, Schonbrunn’s Summer Night concert was the only musical experience I had in the city until my recent visit to Musikverein.

This Monday was the day I had been looking forward to for weeks. As a graduation gift, my boyfriend’s parents got me two tickets to Musikverein to watch the Concentus Musicus Wein play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9!
Musikverein is home of Vienna Philharmonic and held its first concert in January of 1870. Its golden hall, which is its largest room in the building, has one of the best architectural acoustics for classical music due to the combination of its architect’s intuition and fortunate accidents. Acoustical engineering in architecture was not a concern until years after the building was constructed. The hall employs a large rectangular shape like a shoebox with narrow balconies on the sides to maximize the echo. We sat on the balcony across from the stage, and I felt as if they were playing right in front of me. Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 is an innovating piece in classical music for employing voices in a symphony for the first time (Ode to Joy!).
This was my first attempt with classical music in Vienna, and it seems to live up to every bit of expectation the world citizens make about classical music. As a student, I initially considered a visit to Musikverin unimaginable, but surprisingly it is affordable! Unless you are not trying to go on holidays or when Vienna Philharmonic is playing, you can get lucky with tickets at an affordable level.