Orchestra
Next to classical Viennese dance music, the orchestra Divertimento Viennese has specialized in the legendary hits of the Roaring Twenties and Swinging Thirties, playing them exclusively in original arrangements. With verve, virtuosity and an unfailing instinct for the musical pulse of this era, Divertimento Viennese has won the hearts of audiences in Austria and abroad (Germany, England, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, USA). Since its founding in 1998 it has established itself as one of the most popular ballroom orchestras in Austria.
An orchestra formation selected to match its challenging repertoire enables the classically elegant ballroom orchestra to transform itself instantaneously into a rhythmically pulsating dance orchestra of the 1930s. Jazz soloists, a Latin American rhythm group and members of renowned symphony orchestras ensure quality and an opulence of sound. Since its founding, the orchestra’s artistic director has been conductor Vinzenz Praxmarer, who has shared this responsibility with concertmaster Martin Reining since 2006.
Our dance music repertoire includes more than 300 titles. It includes all the familiar Viennese, standard and Latin American dances such as waltz, polka, foxtrot, slow fox, Valse Boston, quickstep, tango, Charleston, cha-cha, rumba, samba, boogie, paso doble etc.
As a quintessentially Viennese ballroom orchestra, of course Divertimento Viennese also plays the opening of the ball, the midnight quadrille and the accompaniment of singers performing opera, operetta and musical numbers. The orchestra works with international opera stars regularly and with great enthusiasm. A sophisticated sequence of dances and our elegant appearance in 1920s style will transform any evening into a glittering ball.
The orchestra’s references include the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Ball, the ball of the Viennese Coffee House Owners, the Viennese Science Ball, the New Year’s Ball at the Hofburg, the Viennese Opera Ball in New York, the Ballo Viennese in Milan, the Chemnitz Opera Ball and many others.
The orchestra Divertimento Viennese is an extraordinary ensemble, uniting fantastic, enthusiastic young musicians from all around the world.
I had the pleasure to perform a very diverse and challenging programme at Vienna’s Konzerthaus with the orchestra under Vinzenz Praxmarer’s baton. It is an orchestra you must experience live!
KS Camilla Nylund
Divertimento Viennese does honour to its name: the orchestra offers high-class entertainment à la viennoise, in the best sense of the word – whether in its varied concert programmes, which may be diverting but always also focus on ostracized Jewish composers, or when offering high-spirited dance music in ballrooms. Music of the early 20th century has rarely sounded as brilliant and multi-faceted!
Teresa Vogl
The knowledge of the perfect tempo of a dance, the feeling of how to build a phrase, the intuition to assemble a harmonic and entertaining concert evening or dance event, the colourful, magical and enchanting sound of the ensemble – Vinzenz Praxmarer and Divertimento Viennese will bring you all that!
Prof. Mag. Paul Halwax
With Divertimento Viennese under Vinzenz Praxmarer, we were able to present one of the best and most versatile ball orchestras in the 66-year-old history of the Viennese Opera Ball New York. The Viennese sound of the orchestra and its broad repertoire have found enthusiastic fans far beyond the Austrian borders, guaranteeing unforgettable ballroom flair in repertoire ranging from classical to film music. Hoping for many happy returns!
Daniel Serafin
I congratulate Divertimento Viennese on its quality. From the opening to the quadrille, Divertimento Viennese performs everything with professionalism, flexibility, lightness of touch and energy. It is a great pleasure to work with this young orchestra, whether at the Coffee House Owner’s Ball, the New Year’s Ball at the Hofburg or any other ball.
Prof. Thomas Schäfer-Elmayer
It is always a great pleasure to make music with Vinzenz Praxmarer. His orchestra is a worthy heir to Vienna’s ballroom tradition and wins the listener over with its youthful verve, extraordinary musical instinct and high artistic standards.
