Festival of Joy

The reason for this festival concert in Vienna's Heldenplatz is the capitulation of the National Socialist regime on May 8, 1945. The Festival of Joy was founded in 2013 to celebrate this day of liberation in worthy fashion. This open-air concert is intended to celebrate the liberation from National Socialist rule and all the victims of the National Socialists. The festival is organised by the Austrian Mauthausen Committee in cooperation with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, the Vienna Israelite Community, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, the City of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Government. Under the direction of Christopf von Dohnànyi the Vienna symphony orchestra will play "A survivor from Warsaw" and Beethoven´s synphony Nr.3 "Eroica" together with baritone Thomas Hampson and members of the "Vienna Singverein".