On 13th June, at 7 o’clock in the evening, Emanuel Schikaneder opens the Theater an der Wien as the “Playhouse of imperial and royal privilege” with his own work, the allegorical gala prologue Thespis Traum, and the heroic opera Alexander by Franz Teyber. The theatre’s façade is ochre with Empire style windows while the interior is decorated in blue and silver, the colours red and gold being reserved for the imperial court. It is “more spacious than any in Vienna”, with a capacity of almost 2,000. “Schikaneder is abroad in Vienna’s suburbs where he has built a truly splendid building with furnishings that many an impresario could and should gainfully visit…” (Johann Gottfried Seume on his Spaziergang nach Syracus (Promenade to Syracuse), October 1801).

Beethoven’s Fidelio, Eroica and many of his other orchestral works are premiered in the Theater an der Wien, sometimes with Beethoven conducting, sometimes with him as pianist.

Schikaneder dies in abject poverty and isolation. However, his spirit lives on in his theatre where performances prevail that feature truly spectacular effects, such as tales of sorcery and chivalry with jousting, sword fights and burning castles. One such production is Friedrich von Schiller’s tragedy The Maid of Orleans which requires more than 400 people and 80 horses on stage at once. From 1815 to 1821 “Count Palffy’s children’s ballets” are the star attraction and produce, among others, the dancer Fanny Elssler who later achieves worldwide fame.

Ferdinand Raimund performs at the Theater an der Wien for the first time. In 1827 his fairy-tale drama Moisasurs Zauberfluch (The Magic Curse of Moisasur) is premiered, before Johann Nestroy dominates for the next 20 years. Both are commemorated on the iron curtain next to The Magic Flute.

The theatre, now heavily in debt, is taken over by Karl Carl from Munich who, as “Staberl”, quickly wins over the hearts of the Viennese. Comedy spectacles and plays about knights and chivalry draw the crowds while the new impresario treats his actors like extras – and pays them accordingly! In 1827 he also takes over management of the Theater in der Josefstadt and this brings him a new leading man: Wenzel Scholz, the chubby comedian, who is justifiably immortalized on the iron curtain beside Nestroy and Raimund.

Following a "hostile takeover" (a benefactor paid the theatre’s debts) ownership of the Theater an der Wien passes to Franz Pokorny and the director Karl Carl is forced to move out along with his company. Pokorny’s intention is to stage mainly operas, but despite a sensational season of guest performances by Jenny Lind, the "Swedish nightingale", he rapidly goes bankrupt. After the upheavals of the revolution in 1848 and Pokorny’s death his son Alois assumes responsibility for the theatre, though his period in charge is no more successful than his father’s was. In 1860 the resident composer Franz von Suppé composes Das Pensionat (The Finishing School), the first operetta in Viennese style.

This year not only sees Alexander Girardi’s first performance at the Theater an der Wien, it also marks the beginning of the "golden age of Viennese operetta", ushered in on 5th April by the premiere of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. For years to come it is the operettas of Johann Strauss (The Gypsy Baron, 1885), Carl Zeller (Der Vogelhändler, 1891) and Carl Millöcker (The Beggar Student, 1882) that quench the thirst for entertainment of first the Viennese and soon after the whole world with unparalleled charm and music of the very highest quality.

With The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár a second successful era begins, the "silver era of Viennese operetta". Besides Lehár the chief protagonists of this era are Emmerich Kálmán, Edmund Eysler, Leo Fall, Bruno Granichstädten and, later on, Ralph Benatzky and Paul Abraham. The special style so characteristic of the Theater an der Wien - top-class entertainment coupled with artistic quality - is maintained for nearly forty years by the director Wilhelm Karczag and his successor and son-in-law Hubert Marischka.

One last highlight: Sissy, with music by the violinist Fritz Kreisler and with Paula Wessely in the title role, becomes a serial success. 20 years later Hubert Marischka’s brother Ernst will take the same story as the basis of the legendary film Sissi with Romy Schneider in the title role.

The theatre is reopened on 6th October with a performance of Fidelio by the company of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Josef Krips. In the course of five productions (The Marriage of Figaro in 1945, Don Giovanni and The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1946, Così fan tutte in 1947 and finally The Magic Flute in 1948) the legendary “Viennese Mozart style” develops under very specific conditions.

The State Opera moves into its reconstructed building on the Ringstrasse. Plans are being considered to replace the Theater an der Wien with a large car park or a department store. Fortunately the theatre is not only maintained as a venue for the Vienna Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, it is also lovingly restored and provided with first-class equipment.

On 14th June The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus is premiered at the Theater an der Wien.

The Merry Widow is included in the programme as a summer operetta (initially with Johannes Heesters) and is performed every year for the next 13 years. The Italian star tenor Giuseppe di Stefano appears as a guest performer in Lehár’s The Land of Smiles and enjoys huge success.

Cats begins Peter Weck’s era as director and becomes the first long-running success on the continent. It is followed by The Phantom of the Opera and Freudiana.

After restoration work and a technical overhaul the musical Mozart! by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay is premiered, again under the direction of Harry Kupfer.

In the first years, it is the "three Ms" that form the backbone of the programme: Monteverdi – Mozart – modern. Works from the 17th and 18th centuries are brought to life chiefly by ensembles specialising in historical performance practice, and a consequence of this is that the baroque opera repertoire is rediscovered for Vienna. In addition to the staged performances of these operas, concert renditions of well-known and unknown operas of this era that deserve to be rediscovered complete the programme. Contemporary musical theatre is regularly promoted by the commissioning of works from established and young composers. The operas are presented under the "stagione" system, with a premiere or a new opera production added to the programme every month.

The main sponsor is AGRANA whose generous support helps the opera house get under way.

With its summer series "Operimsommer" the Theater an der Wien is the only Viennese opera house that meets the shortage of cultural activity in the city in the months of July and August. The Spanish zarzuela Luisa Fernanda with the international star Plácido Domingo and Mozart's Magic Flute under the exceptional direction of Achim Freyer give the Theater an der Wien a fine success with a total of 10,500 tickets sold. This amounts to 98.7% of all available seats and confirms that there is still great interest in the Theater an der Wien as an opera house in the summer, too.

For the first time in the new millennium, a historical revue, Tanz der Blinden, takes place in the large lounge, the Hölle. Under director Georg Wacks, the legendary era of literary-musical cabaret is brought back to life that flourished in these very rooms from 1906 to 1930. Such was the success that a new revue is staged every year thereafter.

As the result of a competition and experts' discussions launched in 2006 for the reopening of the Theater an der Wien as the City of Vienna's new opera house, the newly designed  foyer was officially opened: the project by the media artist VALIE EXPORT and the architect Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi comprises the redesign of the facade including a new canopy and VALIE EXPORT's installation "Anagrammatische Komposition mit Würfelspiel (nach W.A. Mozart)" ("Anagrammatic Composition with Dice after W. A. Mozart)" next to the ticket office in the Theater an der Wien's foyer.

From September 2012, the Theater an der Wien also stages productions at the Kammeroper. To this end, a young ensemble is founded that performs for two years on the small but versatile stage at no. 24, Fleischmarkt, and also takes on small roles at the Theater an der Wien. The programme at the Kammeroper consists of rarities and classics on a smaller scale which enable our young singers to acquire a wide repertoire.

From 6 to 29 March, a Mozart/Da Ponte cycle is presented by artists of the highest calibre under the musical direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt whose interpretations define the character of the Theater an der Wien from 2006 like no other. With his Concentus Musicus Wien and an ensemble combining established and young singers, Harnoncourt leads audiences and critics alike to a rediscovery of the Mozart operas Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. Many people already describe these consummate performances as the final musical legacy of Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929–2016).

The first ten years as a "new opera house" are marked by two gala concerts of Beethoven's Fidelio and Mozart's Idomeneo and a staged anniversary production of Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera. The latter is the 101st premiere of a stage work.

For the next four years of his artistic directorship, Roland Geyer has developed a programme concept that builds on the insights gained from the playbills of the past twelve seasons and takes them as a starting point for something new. Inspired by the graphic Im Morgengrauen by the Viennese painter Herwig Zens, the next four seasons are to be designed as a daily schedule: 2018 begins A priori "Im Morgengrau", the middle of the day in 2019 is themed "In medias res" and the eve in 2020 shows De Facto what is possible on a stage and in life, before the fourth season concludes in the evening Summa summarum.

The year 2020 is all about Ludwig van Beethoven, to whom an extensive anniversary program is dedicated on the occasion of his 250th birthday. As early as March, the Corona pandemic puts an early end to the Beethoven celebrations: many events have to be canceled or postponed. Beethoven's masterpiece Fidelio, which was to be the highlight of the year in the production of Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, does not find its way into a live performance, but can be captured for the public as a film production. The TV premiere on ORF 2 on March 20, 2020 reaches 376,000 viewers* and a market share of 11%. Afterwards it is quiet for a long time in the Theater an der Wien. Lockdown. Play cannot resume until the start of the new season in September.

On 28 February the curtain falls not only on the final performance of Leoš Janáček’s Jenufa but also on the final performance at the Theater an der Wien for the next two and a half years and on Roland Geyer’s 16-year tenure as director.

On 14 March the extensive renovation and modernisation was begun that the venerable theatre so desperately needs. The projected costs of EUR 60.05 million will be borne by the City of Vienna, Wien Holding and the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien. The opera house is scheduled to reopen in renewed splendour in the autumn of 2024. While the refurbishment is being carried out the Theater an der Wien will stage its productions in Halle E of Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier, beginning in autumn 2022. 

On 23 April it’s “Time for a new US at the MusikTheater an der Wien”! New artistic director Stefan Herheim and his team present the highlights and premieres of the 22/23 season. To underscore the theatre’s unique blend of music and drama, the new management team gets to work with a new logo featuring not only an extra word but also a new graphic design that perfectly encapsulates its mission: MusikTheater an der Wien.

From the start of the 2022/23 season, the Norwegian opera director Stefan Herheim takes on overall responsibility for opera productions at the Theater an der Wien.