Linz is going to celebrate the start of its European mission with three days of festivities in the company of its visitors from near and far. The city’s cultural institutions and its restaurants and bars will be throwing their doors wide open for the electrifying countdown. How about sitting down to a meal in LINZ ZU HAUSE? In this project Linzers will be playing host to Europe in their own homes. They will be spoiling their guests in ways that may be very personal, very ordinary, very individual, very special. Using the culinary means at their disposal they will be providing samples of life in Upper Austria’s capital that are very different from your run of the mill gala dinner. A premiere typical of Linz in its very atypicality. And what do fireworks sound like when they are in love? At midnight an explosive mix of musical surprises will feast your eyes, ears and heart. The ROCKET SYMPHONY will be detonating above the Donaupark, composed by Orlando Gough and Mike Henry, produced by Tom Ryser and performed by several hundred voices from Upper Austria with support from the British choir The Shout. A world premiere. Anything else going on? Workmen are already busy around the clock assembling Mark Formanek’s STANDARD TIME piece. Made of wood and metal and held together by nails and screws, it will stand 4 metres tall on the Danube Embankment to display the countdown in real time. A numerical premiere.

Good morning! Good year! New Year’s Day combines past and future; there will be a whip cracking demonstration in front of the Landhaus and there is the opening concert at Brucknerhaus and the New Year Concert, put on in collaboration with Siemens AG Österreich. The evening will belong to Best of Austria.

2 January will be dedicated to Ars Electronica and to the first Culture Capital Neighbourhood of the Month.

And if you cannot make it to Linz in person: the ORF will be covering the festivities.

WHAT // opening ceremony