The Staatsoper building from behind

The company is currently headed by Seiji Ozawa. Other conductors at Vienna have included Hans Richter, Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Clemens Krauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, and Riccardo Muti.

Until the directorship was taken over by von Karajan, Vienna maintained a permanent ensemble. Von Karajan introduced the policy of engaging guest singers.

The Vienna State Opera is closely linked to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which is an incorporated society of its own, but whose members are recruited from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.