Sparkassenplatz 3As the largest concert organizer in the Styrian capital of Graz and a gateway to the international music world, the Graz Music Society presents top-class orchestral, chamber, and solo concerts and recitals in the magnificent Stefaniensaal (Congress Graz), which is among the best-acoustically renowned concert halls in the world.
The fact that a number of famous musicians were appointed honorary members during the Music Society's founding phase, including Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, and more recently Nikolaus Harnoncourt, György Ligeti, Alfred Brendel, Elīna Garanča, and Krzysztof Penderecki, speaks to the Music Society's supra-regional importance for Styria.
The magnificent Stefaniensaal (Congress Graz) is one of the acoustically best concert halls in the world. Here the music association organizes top-class orchestra and soloist concerts, song evenings and children's concerts.
It was ceremoniously opened with a concert by the Music Association for Styria on November 4, 1885 and is named after Crown Princess Stephanie. The architect was Matthias Seidl. From 1905 the hall was rebuilt and the Congress building was expanded, including the glass dome in the foyer and the chamber music hall. On November 28, 1908, the keystone certificate was sunk into the base of the Beethoven statue, which forms the center of the staircase under the glass dome. Its contents read:
“May the halls serve noble art and science, may they remain a worthy foster home for the purification, deepening and enthusiasm of the people's soul for all time, but may they also bear witness to future generations of the artistic spirit and the industrial industriousness of their present-day brothers, and one day in the distant future the honest intention of the owner will be transfigured in the light of day, if this memorial sheet is ever to shine again. Let God do that. “