Strauss Operetta Symphony Orchestra Wien is one of the most famous opera houses in Vienna. The theatre was founded in 1947 by the famous German manager Erich Schmidtke. He was the manager and agent for the world's leading orchestras and conductors, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Dresden Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also served as director of the Berlin Opera and the Salzburg Mozarteum Opera.

Over the past 70 years, the Strauss Light Opera has produced hundreds of light operas, including not only individual Strauss productions, but also classics by other composers, such as Lehár's The Merry Widow, which is a regular feature of the theatre's repertoire. In addition to the performances in Vienna, the opera house tours several dozen times a year to German-speaking countries and regions such as Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.

In addition to performances of the entire light opera repertoire, the theatre also regularly presents selected light opera concerts. The theatre performs in various concert halls, including the Mediterranean Grand Hall in Vienna. Around New Year's Eve, the orchestra of the theatre also performs a New Year's Eve concert tour of the Strauss family's classic works in Vienna and around Europe, including Lehár's classic The Widow of the Winds in 2024 and Johann Strauss's The Quality of Vienna in 2025. The theatre will bring both productions to China and other Asian countries and regions. The theatre's current Artistic Director is Greek-born conductor Sirius Thessanis. He began his tenure as the orchestra's first conductor in 2016 and will be the theatre's artistic director from 2019.

Conductor: KONSTANTIN KIRILOV ILIEVSKY
Konstantin Ilievsky, conductor, composer and pianist is known thanks to his performing at the European stage scene. Since 2020 he has been engaged as conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also works as music director of the Sinfonietta dell´Arte Orchestra and held for many years the identic position at the Dianopolis Orchestra in Yambol, Bulgaria. He cooperates on regular basis with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian Philharmonic in Sofia.
 
He was a frequent guest in several renowned orchestra ensembles from both Europe and beyond, such as the Wiener Konzert Verein, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra (Austria), LCO – the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonics Bratislava, State Chamber Orchestra Žilina (Slovak Sinfonietta), Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), Orchestra of the National Opera and RTSH Orchestra in Tirana (Albania), China National Symphony Orchestra Ningbo, Orchestra Sinfonica del FPIAP Franz Liszt (Cosenza, Italy) and many others.

He holds the Crystal Lyre Award in category Conductor for the exceptional concert with the Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and soloists of the Vienna and Stuttgart Opera, performing works by A. Bruckner, R. Strauss and G. Mahler. He also teaches composing and conducting at the State Conservatory in Bratislava and has an engagement as composer-in-residence at the Proxima Project.

Soprano: CHRYSO MAKRIOU
Greek-Cypriot lirico-spinto soprano, Chryso Makariou, is one of the most distinguished Cypriot singers of her generation. Following her graduation from the National Music Academy of Sofia “Pancho Vladigerov” in Bulgaria she moved to Vienna where she continued her studies with the renowned mezzo-soprano and distinguished Kämmersängerin, of the Vienna State Opera, Prof. Margarita Lilova.

As a young rising star, Chryso Makariou participated, with great success, in a number of international singing competitions and European opera festivals amongst them the “Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto” a European Community Competition where she was a finalist , the International Singing Competition in Chur, Switzerland where she won second place and the role of Violetta and the prestigious Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona where she placed as a finalist.