A rapper who lives between “street filth and Beverly Hills”. With sharp lines, social criticism and an unagitated style, Donna Savage is conquering the German rap scene: she studies, lives art and asks herself questions that others would rather not ask. In her sound, anger meets reflection – and opens up space for change. This will be the case at #SciBall25 at 1:00 a.m. when she performs at the disco. Continue reading Clear the Stage for Donna Savage
Katia Ledoux is the sensation of the season. The opera singer is a guest at the Science Ball for the first time. And she exceeds all expectations here too.
It is an evening that will go down in the annals of opera. Wiener Volksoper, February 1, 2023: Katia Ledoux is on stage, unlike planned. The 32-year-old mezzo-soprano is supposed to play Venus in Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld”. Just Venus. Just her role. But when Orpheus and his understudy both fall ill, Ledoux takes on both parts – mezzo-soprano and tenor, femininity and masculinity, goddess and human. Without rehearsal, straight into the spotlight. The next day, the world is talking about her. Not only in Vienna, not only in opera circles. Everywhere. Women singing male roles? It happens, but it’s rare. Continue reading The voice that breaks all chains
Johann Strauss the younger is a classic of popular music and therefore a must at every Viennese ball. Especially in the anniversary year of his 200th birthday. But the Divertimento Viennese ball orchestra, under the direction of Vinzenz Praxmarer, will be offering not only the greatest hits such as the Blue Danube Waltz but also a special surprise as a ball overture: Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Straussiana” from 1953, a potpourri of rather unknown melodies by the Waltz King, which the composer masterfully condensed into a tribute. Continue reading Discovery at the anniversary
The Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna (MUK for short) has accompanied the Science Ball from the very beginning. And this is to be understood literally. Every year, students specially compose fanfares which form the prelude to the opening. Student Laura Oos (born 2003) has composed a “Fanfare for the Scientists” especially for this year’s anniversary, which will be performed by students from the Jazz, Wind Instruments and Percussion departments under the direction of the composer. And that’s not all. At midnight, Alexandra Danilova (soprano), Ghazal Kazemi (mezzo-soprano), Malo Peloffy (tenor) and Aleksandr Ivanov (bass) will accompany Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” with the Divertimento Viennese ball orchestra.
How does one make quantum entanglement resonate? A few young physicists and artists from Vienna have attempted exactly that. They call their project „Sounds of Entanglement.“ A show in which entangled photons take on the role of the conductor.
A report by Sebastian Lang
For a long time, physics was considered a realm of predictability. Everything neatly cast in formulas, a clockwork that one only needed to study long enough to fully understand the world. But then came quantum physics, along with chance. Suddenly, nothing was certain anymore. You can know a particle’s position or its velocity–but never both at the same time. Thanks to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Einstein hated this, calling it „spooky action at a distance.“ Continue reading What does chance sound like?
Saki the Artist believes that art has a job: to fight against waste. In her studio, leftovers from laboratories pile up like souvenirs of an industry that doesn’t think about tomorrow – pipettes, gloves, petri dishes. Things that would otherwise end up in black trash bags become dresses and installations. The artist, who moved from California to Vienna in 2023, combines her biotech past with creativity. It’s not about beauty for her. It’s about reimagining science in a more sustainable way. Continue reading Saki the Artist: Art from upcycled lab plastics
Instagram-worthy species glamour at the Ball of Sciences. Beyond its significance for research, the subject holds a unique aesthetic allure that will be magnified on the evening of the ball.
The natural history collections of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) are far more than mere exhibits. They are fragile time capsules, living laboratories, and places where the past, present, and future intertwine. With over 30 million objects, the NHM is a true archive of biodiversity and a source of inspiration for science and society. Here, nature is systematically recorded, its diversity documented, and the molecular signature of life deciphered. Every stone, every display case, and every specimen tells a story of the interplay between nature, science, and humanity. Continue reading Photo op with the axolotl
The focus is of course on the well-deserved award as Scientist of the Year 2024, which Sigrid Stagl received today at the Concordia Press Club from the Club of Education and Science Journalists. But the economist at the Department of Socioeconomics at WU Vienna was also delighted to receive an invitation to the Science Ball that came with the award. Continue reading Sigrid Stagl: From the lecture hall to the ball room
For me, science – not just my own, but also and perhaps even above all the natural sciences – means the possibility of arriving at a rationally justified assessment in an increasingly less transparent, increasingly differentiated and increasingly conflict-ridden world: rational in the sense of being based on knowledge rather than rumors, rational in the sense of being balanced, rational in the sense of including other approaches, rational in the sense of being (as) objective as possible rather than headed towards individual interests. Continue reading Ingeborg Zerbes: Communication without instructions „from above“
It’s literally a box office hit! Again, this ball season the Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus am Karlsplatz is our host. Thanks to their hospitality we are distributing our ordered- and pre-paid tickets at this well-located address in the inner city centre from Monday, 6 January, to Friday, 24 January, on workdays from 15.00 until 18.00.
The exact address: Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus, 1010 Wien, Akademiestraße 13. You can reach the ticket office via U1, U2, U4; tram lines 1, 2, 62, 71, D; Badner Bahn; bus lines 3A, 4A, 59A; Regionalbus 360.
Photo: R. Ferrigato