(Credit: © Katharina Schiffl)

The Wiener Staatsoper marked the 70th anniversary of the reopening of the opera with a ceremony in the Schwindfoyer of the opera house on the Ring on November 5, 2025.

The ceremony saw the company unveil a memorial plaque in the arcade driveway, to the right of the main entrance, commemorating the victims of the Nazi regime who worked at the building. Above the lettering is a work by Käthe Kollwitz – “The Lament” – created in the years 1938-41.

The plaque shows a mourner whose face is partially covered; her lament refers to the injustice and persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime. Danielle Spera spoke words of remembrance at the unveiling of the plaque.

The ceremony also saw a performance of Hanns Eisler’s “Epilogue” from his “Ernste Gesänge,” sung by Georg Nigl and accompanied by a quintet of the State Opera Orchestra. State Opera Director Bogdan Roščić opened the event, with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen delivering the keynote speech.

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