National Opera of Vienna now offers Chinese subtitles

Good news for Chinese opera fans and visitors to Vienna.

To accommodate the growing number of Chinese tourists and their interest in Opera, the National Opera of Vienna now offers subtitles in Chinese, translating the lyrics of all performances.

Chinese visitors can now fully enjoy the Viennese opera experience, for example "Orlando" by Olga Neuwirth, the first opera by a female composer ever performed at the National Opera, which premiered on December 8 this year.

Vienna has become one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. According to the Vienna Daily newspaper, the number of Chinese visitors has grown by 500 percent in the last decade.

One of the highlights for all visitors to Vienna is of course its world-famous National Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) with its 150-year history. Operawire.com reports that for international tourists, the Vienna opera previously installed new subtitle systems for the 2017-18 season. During that season a total of 2,021 high-resolution displays were installed in the auditorium. The subtitles currently displayed present an update to the old system from 2001, making them more readable and less distracting.

Since late November of this year, subtitles are available in eight languages, with the previous selection of English, German, Italian, French, Russian and Japanese supplemented by Spanish and Chinese, according to a press release by the opera house.