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Waltz into Space

Vienna’s mission to broadcast Johann Strauss II’s “The Blue Danube Waltz” into deep space.

For Johann Strauss II’s 200th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the European Space Agency (ESA), Vienna embarked on a mission of cosmic proportions in 2025 – sending The Blue Danube Waltz to its destined home among the stars.

To successfully launch our mission, we needed support. 13,743 people from 92 countries became SpaceNotes ambassadors. Each of them claimed a single note from the original score of The Blue Danube Waltz. Their names were also transmitted into space on May 31 alongside the music. Numerous prominent SpaceNote ambassadors expressed their support, including Austrian Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig, and Spanish opera star Serena Sáenz.

On May 31, 2025, the Vienna Tourist Board staged an intergalactic concert performed by the world-famous Wiener Symphoniker at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna. Thanks to live streaming, the historical concert was shared with audiences across the globe and beyond:

  • 2,500 people visited Bryant Park in New York, watching the concert in the afternoon on picnic blankets.
  • 1,000 people enjoyed a summer evening of music at Strandbar Herrmann in Vienna.
  • 245 guests received one of the highly sought-after tickets for the public screening at the Madrid Planetarium.
  • 135 guests invited by the European Space Agency and the Vienna Tourist Board had the unique opportunity to watch the concert live from Vienna in front of the transmitting Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 in Cebreros, Spain.
  • From 9:30 pm, the circle of spectators widened to include people from all over the world. Around 10,000 users followed the broadcast of The Blue Danube Waltz via live stream on space.vienna.info and Instagram. A few weeks later, the total number of views had already reached 100,000.

Between January and June 2025, the Vienna Tourist Board‘s international media work has generated some 6,500 media reports on WALTZ INTO SPACE worldwide. The total number of impressions across all markets reached an extraordinary 13.5 billion. Big names such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBCNN and Classic FM reported on the campaign, as did The Independent, Forbes, Wired, El Pais, Tagesschau and many more.