Sawt Falasteen - Vienna State Opera opens season with free, all-star gala concert

The free, open-air concert was the state opera's latest effort to "open the house to all – especially new listeners", it said in a statement.

Among the world-class singers performing were Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund and French tenor Benjamin Bernheim.

"I'm very happy that I can be a part of such an event because our goal is to communicate with people, regardless their race, nationality, the political situation, and the cultural differences," Garanca told AFP.

"I find it really great that the house makes a step towards the audience instead of all the time waiting for them," said the world-renowned mezzo. She hoped the gala concert would become a "yearly tradition", she said.

Many visitors sat on picnic blankets or chairs as they enjoyed the concert with friends and family.

- 'Eager to learn' -

"We have no clue who is performing tonight, but we're eager to learn -- and I like classical music, I played when I was a kid," Jeremy Gregoire, a Canadian ice hockey player who recently moved to Vienna, told AFP ahead of the concert.

Embassy employee Thanthida Helbardt, 43, who originally hails from Thailand, told AFP she learned about the concert online and decided to give it a try.

Even before the concert began, the packed park was closed to more visitors meaning many would be concert-goers were turned away for security reasons.

The concert included audience favourites from famous operas such as Puccini's "Tosca", Wagner and Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" as well as Strauss pieces.

Austrian broadcaster ORF aired the concert with a one-hour delay Sunday evening.

The gala also marks the Vienna State Opera's 70th anniversary.

In recent years, opera houses across the globe have tried different measures to draw in new opera-goers to a world that is often considered high-brow and old-fashioned.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST