Discover Vienna: Lifeball 2015

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 1,252 views

Photo gallery from last year’s Lifeball and Conchita’s Lifeball 2015 poster depicting Klimt’s Golden Adele.

The Life Ball is one of the biggest AIDS charity events in the world. The party on May 16 in front of Vienna’s City Hall promises to be flashy, colorful and loud, in order to generate donations for AIDS relief projects and to promote public awareness of HIV and AIDS.

Lifeball 2014 video 1

Lifeball video 2

The Viennese Secessionists provided inspiration for this year’s motto Gold – Ver Sacrum | Santa Primavera | Sacre du Printemps. Ver Sacrum, the spring festival which originates in ancient Rome, is reflected in Gustav Klimt‘s golden paintings and in Igor Stravinsky‘s ballet music Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). This year, the stage will consist of an scaled-up replica of the Vienna Secession and following the Life Ball will be part of the Eurovision Village for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Fashion show by Jean Paul Gaultier

The opulent opening show at City Hall Square (Rathausplatz), with numerous appearances by international stars and a fashion show, is open to the public. Every year, 40,000 spectators follow the colorful goings-on. This year’s fashion show is created by star designer Jean Paul Gaultier, exactly 20 years after his legendary Life Ball premiere in 1995. A large number of celebrities will attend this year’s Life Ball again without compensation, including Hollywood star Charlize Theron and Mary J. Blige.

On the evening before the Life Ball, on 15 May, the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert will be held for the fourth time in the Burgtheater. International opera stars such as Anna Netrebko, Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, Plácido Domingo, Thomas Quasthoff and Yusif Eyvazov perform. Well-known actors such as Birgit Minichmayr or Konstanze Breitebner give readings between the musical offerings.

Life Ball

16 May 2015
Red Carpet from 7.30 pm
Opening show at City Hall Square at 9.30 pm
Ticket information: www.lifeball.org
Inspiration for extraordinary outfits: www.stylebible.org

Address: City Hall Square (Rathausplatz), 1010 Vienna

Red Ribbon Celebration Concert

15 May 2015
7.30 pm
Tickets: wien-ticket.atVenue: Burgtheater

Address: Universitatsring 2, 1010

Donate and Support the Fight Against HIV/AIDS (AIDS Life)

AIDS LIFE, an independent non-profit organisation, was founded in 1992 by Life Ball mastermind Gery Keszler and Dr. Torgom Petrosian with the aim to raise funds for the much needed support of people who are HIV positive or living with AIDS. The annual Life Ball, Europe’s largest AIDS charity event, is the organization’s main source of income.

AIDS LIFE considers itself responsible to continuously promote awareness and public consciousness about HIV and AIDS. On top of organizing Life Ball and raising funds through the yearly event, numerous activities throughout the year are dedicated to education of the AIDS epidemic and promoting ways of prevention.

You can donate and support important AIDS projects here.

How to get there?

You can get to Burgtheater and Rathausplatz via Vienna’s metro system- U-Bahn. You need to take the Purple line U2 and get down at Rathaus.

Information

For more information on Lifeball you can chek its official website lifeball.org.

For more information on Vienna you can visit Wien.info and for the latest news on ESC 2015 in Vienna  ORF’s Eurovision website in German.

You can follow our forthcoming series of Discover Vienna articles with photographs and videos on ESCToday.com and on our official Esctoday Instagram and ESCToday Facebook pages.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on Vienna, Austria and 2015 Eurovision Song Contest!