The House of Music is a place of vibrant engagement, playfully opening up new ways to approach music. Our goal is to foster understanding, openness, and enthusiasm for music. Since its opening in June 2000, over 3 million visitors from all over the world have been able to discover and experience music in all its diversity.

Following the opening, Maestro Zubin Mehta assumed the honorary presidency of the House of Music. He was motivated to do so by the joyful and direct presentation of the content, which brings people with diverse musical tastes together, sparks conversation, awakens interest, and dismantles prejudices against engaging with musicological topics.

The birthplace of the Vienna Philharmonic.

The former Palais Erzherzog Karl, now the House of Music, was once the residence of Otto Nicolai (1810–1849), composer of the opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor," who founded the Vienna Philharmonic Concerts here in 1842. For this reason, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is closely associated with the House of Music. The Vienna Philharmonic Museum is located here, as is the archive of what is arguably the world's most famous orchestra—containing historical treasures from a long and rich musical history.

Vienna has always been a city where music has been approached in innovative ways and where people have never been afraid to find unconventional ways to engage with it. With the House of Music, we want to reflect Vienna's character as a pioneering city in music and provide an approach that offers our visitors new experiences and deliberately departs from traditional music education.

Presenting music in all its diversity in an innovative and interactive way.

Of particular importance – alongside the historical elements – is the interplay between natural and electronic sound generation, between analog and digital. The aesthetically and artistically presented musicological content bridges the gap between tradition and innovation . Playfully rolling dice to create a waltz, hearing your name as an original composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, creating your own "sound entity" – a so-called "Clong," or virtually conducting the world-famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – here, music is presented in a new way. The great masters of classical music, as outstanding composers of sonatas, quartets, and symphonies, await rediscovery in all their facets.

Giving children and young people access to music. Worldwide.

I am particularly pleased that our interactive sound museum is repeatedly cited internationally as a reference project. For example, the House of Music was also the licensor and partner in the realization of a Mexican music museum modeled after the Viennese one. The Casa de la Música de Viena en Puebla opened on January 13, 2015, in Puebla, near Mexico City, and operated until 2022. It featured the same installations and shared the same fundamental concept and intention as the Vienna Sound Museum. Furthermore, the House of Music is an official partner and ambassador of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Its aim is to implement new music education initiatives and provide children and young people with access to the world of music, particularly where this is not readily available. This includes, for example, the purchase of urgently needed musical instruments for school classes and the launch of music education programs.

The primary goal of music education at the House of Music is to awaken curiosity for music and a love of making music as early as possible. Music, as a universal language, helps to build bridges between people. It fosters linguistic and intercultural understanding, strengthens social cohesion, boosts self-confidence, and: makes people happy.

My team and I wish you an exciting musical journey of discovery and much enjoyment during your visit to the House of Music.

Simon K. Posch,
Director of the House of Music