Sommernachtskonzert 2025 / Summer Night Concert 2025

Set within the grounds of Vienna’s dazzling Schönbrunn Palace and hosted by the Vienna Philharmonic, the annual al fresco Summer Night Concert attracts a live audience of tens of thousands, and a broadcast audience of millions. Each June the orchestra is joined by a different conductor, who leads them and a guest star artist or two in a program of well-known classical works. For the 2025 Summer Night Concert, Tugan Sokhiev took to the podium, alongside tenor Piotr Beczała and the Vienna Boys Choir. “Sharing music with so many thousands of people creates a very joyful and vibrant atmosphere,” he tells Apple Music Classical, “and the setting, with the stage in the gardens of the beautiful and historic Schönbrunn Palace, is magical.” This year, the concert began with a poignant memorial to the Graz tragedy, with the “Air” from J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, followed by warm-hearted performances of Puccini’s “Nessum Dorma,” extracts from Bizet’s Carmen, the “Hungarian March” from Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust, and many more favorites. The encore, Johann Strauss II’s waltz Wiener Blut (Vienna Blood), has, over the years, become something of a tradition. “It’s a fantastic to have the opportunity to be able to return to these pieces,” says Sokhiev. “Even though they are very well-known classics, they are not necessarily pieces we perform in concert very frequently. That’s why it’s wonderful to go back to them. “I can’t say exactly which music the crowd loved the most—I hope that they loved all of it!” he continues. “I must say that there were huge and well-deserved cheers for our wonderful soloist, Piotr Beczała, so I’m sure for many people his performances were some of the highlights. But, the whole evening was a series of highlights!”