Vienna & the Karl Scheit Competition: a guitarist's travel guide
Karl Scheit International Guitar Competition · Vienna, Austria
Vienna and the guitar go back a long way, to the golden age of Giuliani and Diabelli, and the Karl Scheit International Guitar Competition keeps that lineage alive. Named for the Austrian guitarist and teacher who shaped the modern repertoire, and hosted by the city's celebrated university of music, it is a fine reason to spend a few days in one of the world's great musical capitals.
Getting there
Vienna is a central-European crossroads, with fast trains from Salzburg, Munich, Prague and Bratislava, and an airport (VIE) linked to the centre in around twenty minutes. The tram and U-Bahn network makes the whole city easy.
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Where to stay
Stay inside or just beyond the Ringstrasse and you are within reach of the concert halls, the coffee houses and the competition's home at the university of music. Vienna is made for walking between one grand building and the next.
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See stays in Vienna →What you'll hear
The competition is run by the mdw, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and financed in part from the sale of Karl Scheit's own guitar collection, a nice link to the man himself. It brings international players into the university's halls for solo rounds, and the details of dates and format are best confirmed on the university's site. The setting alone, in the city of Schubert and Beethoven, gives it a particular weight.
If you play as well as listen, explore Anton Diabelli, of Vienna's golden guitar age on Sheet Music Plus →
Where to eat
Vienna's classics are a pleasure: Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz boiled beef, and the coffee-house ritual of a Melange with a slice of Sachertorte or apple strudel. Take your time; that is the Viennese way.
While you're there
The palace and gardens of Schönbrunn fill an easy half-day in the city, and the Wachau valley along the Danube, with Melk Abbey and the wine village of Dürnstein, makes a lovely trip west. Vienna's museums could occupy a week. A rental car makes the day trips simple, and GetYourGuide lists guided tours and tickets across the region.
Enter the pieces you play, and GuitarComp shows how your programme maps to this competition's rounds and which other events you qualify for.
See full competition details →Competition dates, deadlines and the current compulsory work change each edition, so always confirm at the official site: mdw.ac.at.