Grätzl Töne – The Sound of the Gasometer
For its fourth edition, Grätzl Töne is relocating its center to the Music City Gasometer in Vienna-Simmering. The four listed towers with their residential buildings, music studios, schools, event halls, and shops form a highly dense urban living space where around 1,500 people live.
Over several months, students from the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, together with artists and local partners, have developed formats that respond directly to this location: music invites people into shops and corridors, mingles with everyday paths and makes the people who live, work and shop here visible.
Music throughout the Gasometer
Between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m., students, ensembles, and community projects will perform in all four towers A–D. The Polgar Inclusive Band brings its inclusive rock aesthetic to the music store “Klangfarbe.” Children’s and youth ensembles from the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School Vienna and formats from the Pop Academy will open their rehearsals and invite the audience to move around among the instruments.
Community projects on equal footing
The Open Obdach project (Fonds Soziales Wien Obdach) brings formerly homeless musicians together with students from the mdw on stage.
Bassist Robin Gadermaier provides live music for the final of a fantasy strategy game tournament; musicians from Studio Dan present a piece composed especially for the unique acoustics of the Gasometer. Members of the inclusive rock band Monkeys of Earth work with students to develop new spaces for encounters between the audience and the band.
Talk: “Rehearsal Rooms of Democracy”
In the Musik im Dialog hall (Tower C), Ursula Berner (spokesperson for culture and the arts, Vienna State Parliament), Axel Petri-Preis (professor of music education and community music), Hanns Stekel (director of the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School Vienna), and Anna Dempsey (Obdach Forum, Fonds Soziales Wien – Obdach) will discuss the role music plays in social cohesion in tense times. Moderator: Miriam Damev (Falter).
The new Community Music Center will also be presented in this context—a joint initiative of the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School Vienna and the Department of Music in Dialogue at the mdw.
Monday, December 15, 2025
3:00–5:00 p.m. – Music in Gasometer Towers A, B, C, and D
5:00–6:00 p.m. – Music and talk “Rehearsal Rooms of Democracy” in the Music in Dialogue Hall (mdw, Tower C)
Gasometer, Guglgasse 6–14, 1110 Vienna
Admission: free
Organizer: ARGE Henriette / Grätzl Töne in cooperation with the Department of Music in Dialogue at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School Vienna; other partners include Fonds Soziales Wien – Obdach, Klangfarbe, Popakademie.