15 October 2018

One of Austria's favorite season markets 'Mariazeller Advent' opens on 22 November with Christmas concert of the Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben)

On 22 November, 'Mariazeller Advent' opens with the Christmas concert of the Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben) at the Basilika Mariazell, an important place of pilgrimage in Europe; Mariazell counts like Lourdes to the 'Shrines of Europe'. The history of the Wiener Sängerknaben reaches back to the 13th century. Today, the boys' choir is one of Austria's cultural ambassadors with around 300 concerts per year around the world. The Wiener Sängerknaben concert is one of a series of music events during the Mariazeller Advent; among them the American gospel concert by Donna Brown and the Golden Gospel Pearls on 13 December, or the panflute concert by Austrian musician Wolfgang Niegelhell on 22 December. (Tickets for the concerts are already available.)

Other attractions which can be found at the programme are the opera 'Hänsel und Gretel' (7 December, the audience will be actively involved), the Advent installation of a life-size (5 meters high) gingerbread house made of honey gingerbread, or the Krampus Run with traditional regional wooden masks; last mentioned will happen on 24 November; the run starts at 18.00.

The Christmas market with around 100 huts is open on five weekends (Thursday - Sunday) from 22 November until 23 December.

fig.: View at the Basilika Mariazell and the Christmas market with huts (arts & crafts, culinary from Styria) during the Mariazeller Advent. Photo: Fred Lindmoser / Tourismusverband Mariazeller Land / www.mariazellerland-blog.at.


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