Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

CULTURE

Nine unmissable events in Austria this August

While there’s every temptation to find a sunny balcony or terrasse to enjoy the Austrian summer, there’s just so much to do across Austria next month. 

Published: 23 July 2024 15:50 CEST
Nine unmissable events in Austria this August
On August 24th, the Brixtental is set alight with thousands of torches. Photo: TVB Kitzbüheler Alpen Brixental / (c) Markus Mitterer

From psychoanalysis in the park to valleys lit by flaming torches, here’s our pick of nine of the very best events occurring across Austria over August. 

Festival of Early Music
July 21 – August 30
Innsbruck, Tyrol

If the melodies of the past move you, Innsbruck’s annual Festival of Early Music simply can’t be missed. 

Since 1963, the (more than a) month-long event has paired beautiful music from the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras with stunning locations such as Schloss Ambras, the Hofburg and the Stiftskirche Wilten. 

The full programme, with the ability to purchase tickets to individual concerts, can be found on the festival website. 

The Marksman / Der Freischütz
July 17th – August 18th
Bregenz Seebühne, Vorarlberg

This year, as part of the world famous Bregenz Festival, Carl Maria von Weber’s dark fairytale, The Marksman, will be performed each evening.

This classic opera tells the tale of a young man who makes a pact to become a top marksman – however, as is common with such agreements, it comes with diabolical consequences. 

Without spoiling too much, the headline performances at this world famous festival are always performed on a incredible stage built over the lake, custom designed for each specific work. Expect to have your mind blown!

Tickets are still available for a few performances on the festival website. 

KAT100 
August 1st – 3rd
Fiederbronn, Tirol

While entries are now closed, watching competitors engage in a trail run across 174 kilometres of the Kitzbühel Alps and the Pillerseetal may be enough to have you lacing your trainers and getting ready for next. 

This challenging race is part of the UTMB World Series of 42 events races across five continents, each taking place in mountainous terrain. 

Information on where you can view the race – including the start and finish lines – can be found here.  

Imperial Days
August 9th – 18th
Bad Ischi, Upper Austria

The Salzkammergut resort town of Bad Ischi flourished in the mid-nineteenth century when it became the summer residence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife, Empress ‘Sissi’. 

It has never quite forgotten the prosperity that the imperial power couple brought to it, and to this day, the town holds ‘Imperial Days’ every August, honouring the town’s heritage. 

Visitors can expect a packed schedule of concerts, outdoor events, parades and guided tours, kicking off on the 9th and culminating in a mass, concert and massive celebration on August 18th, Franz Joseph’s birthday. 

Interested visitors can find out about available accommodation packages on the town’s tourist website here. 

Psychoanalysis in the Park
August 14th, 17th & 31st
Augarten Graz, Styria

…and now for something completely different. Starting in 2023, the University of Graz’s ‘Psychoanalysis in the Park’ offers free, no-obligation psychoanalysis sessions in Graz’s beautiful Augarten. 

There’s no entry fee and no registration – simply turn up and look for the signs! 

Frequency Festival
August 14th – 17th
St. Pölten, Lower Austria

 For music that’s a little more modern, the Frequency Festival in St. Pölten has been thrilling concertgoers since it moved to the town in 2009 from Vienna.

Ed Sheeran headlines this year, along with veteran punk rockers The Offspring. Newer fans are also catered for, with the likes of Yungblud and Kenya Grace.

Details of the full lineup, and tickets are both available via the website. 

Brixentaler Bergleuchten
August 24th
Westendorf, Brixen im Thale and Kirchberg, Tirol

For a truly unforgettable sight, head to the Brixental in Tirol on August 24th, to witness the entire valley blaze to life with imagery created by hundreds of thousands of torches on the mountainside. 

These images created by fire are a traditional way of marking the high point of summer and the best way to see them is either by driving through the valley or taking such trains as the Alpenrosenbahn Westendorf. 

Please note that the event is weather permitting, so if it’s raining, it’s not happening!

Long Table of Graz
August 24th
Graz Hauptplatz, Styria

Here’s another incredibly unique experience: 

On August 24 Graz’s historic Hauptplatz will turn into a huge open-air restaurant, as 750 diners gather at one long table to enjoy a five-course meal prepared by five of the city’s best restaurants, accompanied by handpicked wines and entertainment from musicians. 

Tickets may be a little pricey at €205.00 per person, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever experience such a culinary experience again during your time in Austria. 

Saalfelden Jazz Festival
August 22nd – 25th
Saalfelden, Salzburg

Saalfelden hosts one of Austria’s best jazz festivals each year, and it has a great pedigree, taking place since 1978.

The festival showcases the very best in improvisational music, with a special emphasis on highlighting local and upcoming talent – both inside the concert venue and without.

The entire lineup and ticket sales are available on the website.

What have we missed? Do you know any incredible events occurring in Austria this August? Let us know in the comments! 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

DISCOVER AUSTRIA

August in Austrian history: Picnics, princes and a famous wedding

From the wedding of a musical legend to a picnic that changed world history, August is a month rich in historical anniversaries for Austria.

Published: 26 July 2024 11:58 CEST
August in Austrian history: Picnics, princes and a famous wedding

Here are four of the most important historical events taking place in what is today Austria – and why they deserve to be remembered. 

August 4th, 1782 – Mozart gets married

Austria’s most famous composer (and arguably, its most famous cultural export) was married on this day to Constanze Weber, in Vienna’s Stephansdom. 

Constanze, however, was not Mozart’s first choice – it was her older sister, Aloysia. 

The young composer had previously courted Aloysia and had moved into the home of the Weber family of musicians in Vienna to help with the finances when he fell in love with the younger sister.

READ MORE: Wife of Wolfgang Amadeus wanted their son to be ‘the second Mozart’. No pressure then…

Constanze was a trained singer and, it seems, had a fiery temper. The pair even broke up at one stage.

Thanks to a combination of stubbornness and family pressure, the pair finally tied the knot in 1782. 

Precious little remains to describe their marriage, but they did have six children. 

August 6th, 1806 – One empire ends, another begins

The Holy Roman Empire – the collection of German-speaking kingdoms, duchies and other assorted principalities that dominated Europe for close to a millennium – finally dissolved on this day in 1806. 

The cause? An upstart Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte, declared himself Emperor of France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. 

With two empires vying for supremacy on the continent, one had to finally buckle. 

The Battle of Austerlitz on December 2nd, 1806, in which Austria’s forces were defeated by the French, led to several German regions forming the Confederation of the Rhine. 

This fragmentation of power effectively rendered the Holy Roman Empire a shell of its former self and largely powerless against France in European affairs.

READ MORE: ‘Most of us don’t live in castles’: What became of Austria’s Habsburg dynasty?

Faced with this prospect, Francis II, the Holy Roman Empire’s last Emperor, sent his herald to read a proclamation from the balcony of the Kirche am Hof in Vienna, much to the shock of the assembling crowd. 

What happened next?

Well, just because the Holy Roman Empire was no more didn’t mean that Austria was, too.

See, Francis II had a lot of his own hereditary lands that were under his direct rule.

Rather astutely, Francis had already organised these lands into the Austrian Empire in 1804, crowning himself Emperor.

The Austrian Empire, which later absorbed Hungary in the mid-nineteenth century, was a major European power until the end of the First World War. 

August 19th, 1989 – First crack in the Iron Curtain 

In the end, all it took was a picnic.

As the eighties came to a close, and the Soviet Union began to enter terminal decline, it was a peace demonstration under the auspices of a ‘picnic’ that would create one of the first cracks in the ‘Iron Curtain’ dividing Europe. 

Organised by the Paneuropean Union (with the Habsburg heir Karl von Habsburg as a guiding hand) and the recently formed Hungarian Democratic Forum, a section of the border between Austria and Hungary was opened for a ‘picnic’ near Sopron – a popular vacation spot for East Germans.

Attendees of the picnic – almost all East Germans – quickly dismantled the border and entered Austria, near Mörbisch am See in Burgenland, where they were greeted by awaiting media. 

Unprepared and in disbelief that such a feat had been pulled off, Hungarian and East German forces were on the back foot and more than 660 managed to escape before the border was restored.

The fabric of the Iron Curtain had been irrevocably weakened, however, and within two years, the Soviet Union had fallen, and German unification had taken place.  

August 21st – Birth of the doomed prince

Generations of Austrians are deeply fascinated by the life of the Empress ‘Sissi’. 

An important part of her story is her only son, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, whose death affected her deeply. 

Rudolf was born on the 21st of August 1858 at Schloss Laxenburg, outside of Vienna. 

While Rudolf was raised within the strict and regimented world of the Habsburgs, the outside world was undergoing drastic changes, Rudolf was a melancholic child and young man. 

After a marriage in 1881 that would ultimately fail and the death of his infant son, Rudolf began to sink further into depression. 

READ MORE: Marie Vetsera’s suicide letters found

He would ultimately enter into a murder-suicide pact with his young lover, Baroness Marie Vetsera, at his hunting lodge at Mayerling on the 30th of January 1889 – an event that would later be dramatised on stage, screen and ballet. 

‘Sissi’ would mourn for the rest of her life, and the death of Rudolf resulted in his father’s nephew, Franz Ferdinand, becoming next in line for the imperial throne – a result that would have dire consequences for Europe. 

What important anniversaries in Austrian history for August might we have overlooked? Let us know in the comments!

SHOW COMMENTS