OMV hosts children’s matinee in the Vienna State Opera

On December 22, 2019, more than 800 guests accepted OMV’s invitation to attend the children’s opera “Persinette”. As general sponsor of the Vienna State Opera, OMV helped lots of children have a special opera experience. The “little visitors” were at the heart of the matinee. The guests were all children who are supported by social organizations that partner with OMV, as well as schoolchildren from around 20 boroughs in Lower Austria that work with OMV.

“Giving children access to high-quality education is part of our responsibility towards society”, said Rainer Seele, CEO of OMV, before adding: “Music not only helps children grow and develop social skills, it also does them good and is a wonderful thing in itself”

The partner organizations included MAX & LARA /a joint project with the CAPE 10 foundation, the Superar association for promoting music, CONCORDIA LenZ, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Caritas of the Archdiocese of Vienna, and Vienna’s mobile children's hospice MOMO. After being greeted at the matinee by Dominique Meyer, Director of the Vienna State Opera, Rainer Seele, CEO of OMV, presented a check worth EUR 50,000 to MOMO. The donation was accepted by Martina Kronberger-Vollnhofer, head of the MOMO children’s hospice.

“Persinette” was the archetype of a French folktale, which became popular in German-speaking countries as Rapunzel through the Brothers Grimm. The Vienna State Opera commissioned the composer Albin Fries and the librettist Birgit Mathon to create a three-act fairytale opera, which essentially follows the content of this popular fairytale of the girl in the tower with the long hair.

OMV has cooperated with the opera house on Vienna’s renowned Ringstrasse on multiple initiatives including the opera house’s 150th birthday, in its role as general sponsor, by supporting the Vienna Opera Ball, and by helping to establish the livestream known as “WIENER STAATSOPER live at home”. Through this partnership, OMV gives its ongoing support to a world-class cultural institution from Austria and once again shows its commitment to cultural dialogue in its role as an international company.

Background information:

OMV Aktiengesellschaft
OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of more than 20,000 employees in 2018, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Romania and Austria as part of the Central and Eastern Europe core region as well as a balanced international portfolio, with Russia, North Sea, Middle East and Africa as well as Asia-Pacific as further core regions. 2018 daily production stood at approximately 427,000 boe/d. In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries with a total annual processing capacity of 17.8 mn tons and more than 2,000 filling stations in ten countries. OMV runs gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany; its subsidiary Gas Connect Austria GmbH operates a gas pipeline network in Austria. In 2018, gas sales volumes amounted to around 114 TWh. Sustainability is an integral part of the corporate strategy. OMV is set to invest EUR 500 mn in innovative energy solutions by 2025.