Nova Orchester Wien »Das himmlische Leben«

Join us for a special anniversary concert: 125 years of Universal Edition, 125 years since the premiere of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and 75 years since the death of Arnold Schoenberg. An evening that brings Viennese musical history to life and, together with UNICEF Austria, sends a powerful message to mark World Children’s Day on 20th of November 2026.

The focus of the evening is Universal Edition, one of the defining forces in 20th-century music history. Since its foundation in 1901, it has been associated with composers who have had a decisive influence on the musical thinking of their time.

Under the title »The Celestial Life«, the programme moves from Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 – a work of great energy, clarity and concentrated expressiveness – to Mahler’s late-Romantic soundscape, which, in the finale of the Fourth Symphony, culminates in the childlike vision of heaven found in *Das himmlische Leben*.

In collaboration with Universal Edition, the Arnold Schönberg Centre and the cultural partnership between the Nova Orchester Wien and UNICEF Austria, the evening turns its attention both to future generations and to the question of what responsibility art bears today.