6 November 2021

Preview of the upcoming Viennese balls in 2021 and 2022 in Vienna and New York City: Which balls were canceled, which events will happen?

The 4th wave of the pandemic is in full swing. Starting Monday, the 8th of November, new, more restrictive rules will come into effect to slow down the growing number of new infections and hospitalizations. Especially the increasing cases of patients in intensive care are a problem. The most important new rule concerns the entry to gastronomy, culture events,... which is now defined by 2G (recovered and/or vaccinated). The good news is that since the new rules were made public on 5th November, the run of anti-vaxxers to vaccination boxes and stations has started.

It could be tight for the beginning of carnival on 11th November and the first balls of the new season 2021/22. The Wiener Rotkreuz Ball (Vienna Red Cross Ball) happens traditionally in November. For this year, the event was already canceled "Eurer Gesundheit zuliebe" (For the sake of your health) as stated at the website wienerrotkreuzball.at. When the calculation of vaccinations and measures (2G, FFP2 mask in stores,...) works, the scheduled balls such as the Vienna Ball of Sciences or the Vienna Medical Doctors' Ball - both on 29 January 2022 - will happen without problems.

A practical calendar for ball events (inclusively a list of already canceled events) in Vienna can be found at stadt-wien.at/veranstaltungen/ballkalender-wien-die-schoensten-baelle-im-ueberblick.html; not on the list, as the dance event doesn't happen in Vienna, is the Viennese Opera Ball in New York City.

The 66th Viennese Opera Ball in New York City will happen on 13 May 2022 at the Cipriani 42nd Street. Artistic director of the ball is once again Austrian culture manager Daniel Serafin.

Image, from right: Ball President Silvia Frieser and Chair Jean Shafiroff at the Swing Dinner Dance Gala of the Viennese Opera Ball in New York City on 21st October 2021. The proceeds from the gala will be used to support music therapy at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in collaboration with the Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research. Photo: © David Plakke.