From December 24th to January 7th
Vienna (OTS) – The ORF III Christmas program offers atmospheric concerts, exciting history, Christmas films and lots of contemplative programs about faith and religion. There will be, among other things, classical music on Christmas Eve with “Christmas with the Vienna Boys’ Choir” (December 24th), the “ORF III Christmas Concert from Gmunden” (December 25th), and the operetta hit “Die Fledermaus”. the Vienna State Opera on New Year’s Eve (December 31st) or the main evening dacapo of the morning New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic as the “ORF III late riser service” (January 1st). From December 27th, ORF III will present the first season of the new, epochal ORF history project “Austria – The Whole History”. Contemplative things are on the program with live church services from Austrian churches as well as editions of the “Cultus” series about the various holidays.
Christmas classic: Vienna Boys’ Choir; Christmas concert from Gmunden and much more
“Christmas with the Vienna Boys’ Choir” in “Experience Stage” on December 24th: When the most famous boys’ choir in the world celebrates Christmas, it is something very special. Accompanied by short readings, they sing familiar and popular Christmas songs in the music film such as “Es ist ein Ros’ sprungen”, “Maria went through a thorn forest” and of course “Silent Night, Holy Night”. The first day of Christmas (December 25th) starts with the “Experience Stage Matinee” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” from the Salzburg Marionette Theater, a production of the popular fairy tale from 2013. The main evening, after the great success of the previous year, again an “ORF III Christmas Day Concert” on the schedule – this time from the Stadttheater Gmunden in the Salzkammergut, part of the European Capital of Culture 2024. In collaboration with Franz Welser-Möst, Rafael Fingerlos is creating another episode of the unique concert series that combines classical and folk music brings. Other participants include the soprano Vera-Lotte Boecker, the folk and world music ensemble Tschejefem, pianist Sascha El Mouissi, cellist Julia Hagen and actress Verena Altenberger. This is immediately followed by another musical highlight: the DomQuartier Salzburg is celebrating its tenth anniversary with the musical-documentary film production “Winterklang Salzburg: Amadeus, Amadeus”.
“Austria the whole story” – the start of the most comprehensive ORF history series
Great moments and drastic events have influenced the course of Austrian history, as have special ideas, outstanding thoughts and social upheavals. The new, 40-part ORF III series “Austria – The Whole History” tells the history of the country from its beginnings to the present and illuminates the big questions of the respective era. The first season of the four-year prestige project extends from the first mention of Austria by name as Ostarrichi in 996 to the 18th century. As the heart of this year’s ORF III Christmas program, all ten programs from the first season can be seen. The series begins with the episodes “Warrior and Builder” and “The Reign of Hunger” (December 27). This is followed by “Birth Pangs of a Cosmopolitan City” and “The Master Thief” (December 28th), “Hostages of the Cold” and “Big Money” (December 29th), “The Trial of Katharina K.” and “The Patient Zero” ( January 2nd) as well as “The Golden Apple” and “On the Scaffold of Freedom” (January 3rd).
Contemplative holidays: live church services, “Cultus” for the holidays
ORF III broadcasts a total of six church services live from Austrian churches: a children’s service from the “Light of the Nations” chapel in the Seilerstätte in Vienna’s first district (December 24th), the Protestant service from Mödling (December 26th), and a Catholic service Maria Rain in Carinthia on New Year’s Eve (December 31st), the New Year’s service from Salzburg Cathedral (January 1st) and a Catholic Epiphany service from Salzburg-Michaelbeuern (January 6th). Another Catholic service follows one day later, on January 7th, from the parish of Schandorf in Burgenland.
Films and series: The holidays with the best entertainment
This year too, Christmas films should not be missing to get you in the mood for the big celebration: On Christmas Eve (December 24th), ORF III is showing “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” from Agatha Christie’s “Poirot” series, and “The Eternal Song” tells the story of its creation in the afternoon from “Silent Night, Holy Night”. On Christmas Day (December 25th), ORF III offers one of the female icons of children’s literature and probably its most famous protagonist the TV stage: Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking – with all 21 episodes of the popular children’s book adaptation.
Humorous turn of the year: cabaret and series cult; “Die Fledermaus” from the Vienna State Opera
ORF III celebrates the last day of the year (December 31st) with a lot of humor: several editions of the local cult series “MA 2412” are on the program from 11 a.m. until late in the afternoon. It continues with comedic highlights: from greats like Otto Schenk to audience favorites like Klaus Eckel and Viktor Gernot. ORF III traditionally ends New Year’s Eve on the main evening with the operetta classic “Die Fledermaus” live from the Vienna State Opera. The protagonists of this year’s production are Johannes Martin Kränzle as Gabriel von Eisenstein, Camilla Nylund as his wife Rosalinde and the Swiss Regula Mühlemann as the chambermaid Adele. Patricia Nolz takes on the role of Prince Orlofsky and Johannes Silberschneider takes on the role of the prison guard frog. The Australian Simone Young is at the conductor’s podium.
On the first day of the new year (January 1st), ORF III will show a Dacapo of the “New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic 2024” in the main evening as the now traditional “ORF III late riser service”. Before that, the documentary “Start of the New Year’s Concert 2024” takes a look behind the scenes of the TV broadcast of the glittering event.
Further details about the ORF III Culture and Information program are available at tv.ORF.at/orf3.