Vienna Boys Choir at Sunday Mass in the Hofburg Chapel, Seats, Standing Places and the 2026-27 Season
Every Sunday from late September to late June, at 9:15, the Vienna Boys' Choir sings Mass in the Hofburg's own chapel. It's not a concert. It's a Catholic liturgy that happens to have one of the world's best-known choirs in the gallery, together with members of the Vienna State Opera orchestra and chorus. That's the point, and it's also why so many visitors leave disappointed: in most seats you hear the boys and never see them.
Go knowing that, and it's one of the best hours you can spend in Vienna.
The chapel and the choir
The Burgkapelle sits in the Schweizerhof, the oldest part of the palace. A chapel here is first mentioned in 1296. The present Gothic one was rebuilt under Frederick III and consecrated in 1449, and still has its late-Gothic statues of saints on the pillars. It was redone in Gothic Revival style in the 19th century. The musicians sing and play from the galleries above the nave.
The music is older than most of the palace. In 1498 Maximilian I set up a court chapel choir: a singing master, two basses and six boys. The Hofmusikkapelle sang for the Habsburg court for four centuries. Anton Bruckner was court organist here from 1878 to 1892. After the monarchy ended, the court ensemble was dissolved and the boys' choir was refounded on its own in 1924.
Today there are about 100 choristers aged nine to fourteen, split into four touring choirs named after Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert, so the group singing on a given Sunday is one of them. In some weeks it's the girls' choir.
Seats and standing places
The 2026-27 season runs from 27 September 2026 to 27 June 2027, plus Christmas Day. Mass lasts until about 10:30. Coming up: Schubert's Mass in G on 25 October, Mozart's "Spatzenmesse" on 1 November.
Seat prices for 2026-27:
- Category 1, €52, with a good view
- Category 2, €38
- Category 3, €22, with a limited view
- Category 4, €14, listening only, no view
Standing places are free. They're at the back of the nave, given out from 8:30 on Sunday morning, no reservations. Arrive early. You'll be on your feet for over an hour and you won't see the choir, but you'll hear exactly the same Mass.
Book seats through the Hofmusikkapelle's site (hofmusikkapelle.gv.at, which sends you to its ticket partner), by email, or at the box office in the Schweizerhof, open Fridays 11:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 17:00, and on Sundays 8:00 to 8:30. The Vienna City Card gives 20% off.
How to behave
It's a service. No phones, cameras or recording during Mass. Latecomers wait until staff let them in. No big bags, umbrellas or prams. Applause isn't part of a liturgy, so follow what the regulars do.
There are about 20 steps at the entrance, and wheelchair places can be booked in advance.
If you want to see the boys, the Mass isn't the way. They give concerts at their own hall, MuTh, in the Augarten. If you want to hear them sing for the reason the choir was founded, this is it.
After Mass, the Imperial Treasury is in the same courtyard. It opens at 9:00, so you can walk straight in after the last hymn.