Auditorium
The central box provides an impressive view of the auditorium, which had to be completely rebuilt after the Second World War. The Austrian architect Erich Boltenstern (1896-1991), who was commissioned to rebuild the auditorium, retained the original form of the Logentheater – a theater with boxes - in the shape of a horseshoe, but with modernisations in the structure, materials, technology and decoration. Additional escape routes increased the safety of the spectators.
With self-restraint in the interior decoration, Boltenstern succeeded in giving the auditorium an almost timeless appearance. Only in the colour scheme did he follow the tradition of the imperial house: dark red, gold and ivory. Today’s chandelier, hung with 3000 kg of crystal glass, on the other hand, reflects the taste of the 1950s.
The auditorium has a capacity of 2284 seats (1709 seated, 567 standing, 4 wheelchair and 4 companion seats). Every seat and almost all standing places are now equipped with tablets, which allow the opera libretti to be read in different languages, among other features.
In 1998 the project »Eiserner Vorhang« was launched. For each season a top-class jury, independent of the State Opera selects a contemporary work that is enlarged to 176m² and attached to the Iron Curtain so that the original image of the politically questionable Rudolf Eisenmenger is covered.
For the twenty-third iron curtain in the Vienna State Opera, the jury selected the internationally renowned American artist Carrie Mae Weems with her work »Queen B (Mary J. Blige)«.
The orchestra pit, located directly in front of the Iron Curtain, is disproportionately high, partly for acoustic reasons, and provides the musical home of what is probably the best opera orchestra in the world. Behind the curtain is the stage house consisting of the main stage, side stage, back stage and understage with a total area of approx. 1800m².
Carrie Mae Weems, Queen B (Mary J. Blige), Iron Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2020 / 2021, large image, © Carrie Mae Weems and museum in progress.
An art project by Museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera and the Bundestheaterholding.
The Iron Curtain is sponsored in the current season by Christian Zeller Privatstiftung. Privat Bank der Raffeisenlandesbank Upper Austria, ART for ART & Foto Leutner
