All posts by Oliver Lehmann

Elly Tanaka: A union of music and science

Ball 2025
© Anna Stöcher

Music and science are united in their ability to help us understand our world more deeply. While science offers us the tools to explore and explain the physical universe, music taps into the emotional and intuitive aspects of our human experience. Together, music and science create a richer, deeper understanding of life—science reveals the “how,” while music helps us grasp the “why.” Science and music are also connected at an emotional level: The aesthetic pleasure one feels when hearing great music, that is abound in Vienna, is mirrored by the pleasure of making a scientific discovery. Continue reading Elly Tanaka: A union of music and science →

Ticket sales start for #SciBall25

Ball 2025
These happy people look as if they have already secured their tickets! ©Romar Ferry

Edit: 6 Dec 2024: Student tickets are sold out.

Ticket sales have been online since Monday, 11 November. “The good news: All systems are running smoothly. The homepage and web shop work perfectly. The even better news: Demand is enormous. We have seen a particularly high level of interest from guests who signed up for the newsletter and were thus informed in advance,” says ball organizer Oliver Lehmann, summing up the first 48 hours of sales. To sign up for the newsletter, simply send an email to ball@wissenschaftsball.at with the subject “Ball Info”. Tickets for the anniversary ball can be booked at www.wissenschaftsball.at/shop/. Prices: €120 for regular tickets, €40 for students. Tables can also be booked in the shop for the time being. Continue reading Ticket sales start for #SciBall25 →

Maja Göpel gives Vienna Lecture on Science Communication

Ball 2025
© Anja Weber

As an organizing committee, we believe it is important to address the relevance of science communication beyond the ball evening. That is why we have designed the Vienna Lecture on Science Communication together with the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

This season, the renowned German political and media scientist Maja Göpel will give a lecture on the need for good science communication, especially in challenging times. Participation on Friday, January 24, 2025, at the Academy of Sciences is free, registration is required, and tickets will be allocated in the order in which registrations are received: www.wissenschaftsball.at/vienna-lecture-25/. Please note that the lecture will be in German only. Continue reading Maja Göpel gives Vienna Lecture on Science Communication →

US media rave about the ball

Ball 2025, General

Author Jessi Jezewska Stevens visited three Viennese balls last season for the magazines Foreign Policy and The Dial. She was particularly taken with the Science Ball. Here’s an excerpt:

“The Vienna ‘ball season refracts the flamboyant anachronisms of a region in transition. Dozens of guests and former debutantes (…) described the events to me in terms of glorious contradiction. The balls, I was told, are elegant, tacky, rarified, intimidating, democratic, elite, ironic, gorgeous, decadent, tiresome, astonishing; they are both political and apolitical, accessible and inaccessible, international and decidedly Viennese.'”

The ball images 2024

General

The best pictures from the grand ball room and the other festive halls in the town hall from our photographers Peter Mayr, Roland Ferrigato and Franz Reiterer (© Sciball). When uploading your own pictures to social media do use #SciBall24

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The ‘Schmusechor’: A choir that speaks up

Ball 2024, General

© Nina Keinrath

The ‘Schmusechor’ (engl. Cuddle Choir) captivates not only with interpretations of Aretha Franklin and David Bowie. The queer-feminist singing ensemble also doesn’t shy away from being politically outspoken.

 A visit to the rehearsal by Chiara Joos

With powerful steps, Verena Giesinger stomps on the floor, thrusts her arms forward, and exclaims, „You have to pronounce it really wildly!“. A choir of tightly packed alto, bass, mezzo-soprano, soprano and tenor voices responds to their conductor Giesinger with a loud, drawn-out „Juuuust“. In a small room at Brut Wien, a production and performance venue for the performing arts, Giesinger rehearses the New Year’s concert with the ensemble, the Schmusechor. These rehearsals mark only the beginning of upcoming performances and an impending theatre production. The weeks leading up to the Science Ball leave no gaps in the calendar. Giesinger and the voices of the ensemble are not only locally popular in Vienna but have already established a resounding reputation beyond the borders of Austria. Continue reading The ‘Schmusechor’: A choir that speaks up →