The storied Wiener Staatsoper opened in 1869 and has hosted a glittering parade of chief conductors, including Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. The house was heavily bombed during World War II but reopened on November 5, 1955; in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of that date, Seiji Ozawa and Zubin Mehta conducted opera luminaries including Plšcido Domingo, Thomas Hampson, Bryn Terfel, and Angelika Kirchschlager in excerpts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Aida, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von N‹rnberg and Beethoven's Fidelio.

The concert will be broadcast at 9 pm US Eastern time this evening. Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/gperf/broadcast/schedule_airdates.html.