Vienna Festival

The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies.

The opening of the Wiener Festwochen is an open-air event with free admission held in the square in front of Vienna’s City Hall.

Each year the festival attracts about 180,000 visitors.

Directors
Directors of the festival include:
 * 1951–1958: Adolph Ario
 * 1959: Rudolf Gamsjäger
 * 1960–1964: Egon Hilbert
 * 1964–1977: Ulrich Baumgartner
 * 1978–1979: Gerhard Freund
 * 1980–1984: Helmut Zilk
 * 1984–1991: Ursula Pasterk
 * 1991–1996: Klaus Bachler
 * 1997–2001: Luc Bondy / Klaus-Peter Kehr / Hortensia Völckers
 * 2002–2013: Luc Bondy
 * 2014–2016: Markus Hinterhäuser
 * 2017–2021: Tomas Zierhofer-Kin
 * 2019–present: Christophe Slagmuylder, whose term ends in 2024