During a usual EU Open House (nostalgic throwbacks to the 2019, 2018, and 2015 editions) our embassy has a constant flow of people coming in and out, eager to take a tour and (literally) get a taste of Austria at a time when “social distancing” was a phrase foreign to all of us.
Not this year, however. On May 9, 2020, which marked the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, the first step towards a united Europe, each of the 27 EU Member States represented in Washington, DC, kept their (embassy) doors closed as the event moved online in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
#HomeWithEU, the so-called virtual EU Open House, gathered a series of online experiences and tours created to be enjoyed from your home. After the launch on Europe Day, all the experiences, from recipes of national dishes, film screenings, to our cherry-picked quarantine playlist, will be available through May 31, 2020, on the event website.
What Austrians in the U.S. are listening to in isolation to be closer to home
Being from Austria, home to some of the greatest composers in history (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, Schoenberg etc.), the stakes are high when picking our signature sound. We ski down hills that are alive with The Sound of Music, and waltz our way through the world. But when embassy staffers choose their favorite songs for our Best of Austria playlist, it gets eclectic. From pop icons like Falco, who hit the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and singer-songwriters in local dialect, to contemporary, “highly addictive electro swing” (© Ambassador Weiss) by Parov Stelar. Click here to open our playlist on Spotify to see how we've chosen!
BEST OF AUSTRIA #HOMEWITHEU
Mural by Lush Sux in Vienna, Austria, portraying Austrian popstar Falco (1957-1998) as W. A. Mozart referring to his U.S. No. 1 hit single Rock Me Amadeus © Bwag/Commons
#HomeWithEU #EuropeDay #StrongerTogether #AustriansAbroad