Events at the Café Central
Anyone who appreciates the coffee bean has been enjoying a piece of unadulterated Viennese coffee house culture at the Café Central since 1884.
We put on events that turn our history-steeped coffee house into a stage and offer you plenty of entertainment.
We keep you up to date on our programme on this page. We are already looking forward to your visit.
11 September 2026
Jazz in the café
Start: 6.00 pm
End: 8.30 pm
Once a month, on a Friday evening, the Café Central turns into a jazz bar and serves its guests the finest swing, jazz, blues and pop. Rupert Kirchmair on piano, Florian Hupfauf on double bass and Flo Baumgartner on drums perform live as the Kirchmair Trio, presenting both new arrangements of famous pop songs and classics of jazz history from the Great American Songbook. Stylish jazz trio sound in a unique atmosphere awaits you.
More information at: www.kirchmair-trio.at
09 October 2026
Jazz in the café
Start: 6.00 pm
End: 8.30 pm
Once a month, on a Friday evening, the Café Central turns into a jazz bar and serves its guests the finest swing, jazz, blues and pop. Rupert Kirchmair on piano, Florian Hupfauf on double bass and Flo Baumgartner on drums perform live as the Kirchmair Trio, presenting both new arrangements of famous pop songs and classics of jazz history from the Great American Songbook. Stylish jazz trio sound in a unique atmosphere awaits you.
More information at: www.kirchmair-trio.at
13 November 2026
Jazz in the café
Start: 6.00 pm
End: 8.30 pm
Once a month, on a Friday evening, the Café Central turns into a jazz bar and serves its guests the finest swing, jazz, blues and pop. Rupert Kirchmair on piano, Florian Hupfauf on double bass and Flo Baumgartner on drums perform live as the Kirchmair Trio, presenting both new arrangements of famous pop songs and classics of jazz history from the Great American Songbook. Stylish jazz trio sound in a unique atmosphere awaits you.
More information at: www.kirchmair-trio.at
11 December 2026
Jazz in the café
Start: 6.00 pm
End: 8.30 pm
Once a month, on a Friday evening, the Café Central turns into a jazz bar and serves its guests the finest swing, jazz, blues and pop. Rupert Kirchmair on piano, Florian Hupfauf on double bass and Flo Baumgartner on drums perform live as the Kirchmair Trio, presenting both new arrangements of famous pop songs and classics of jazz history from the Great American Songbook. Stylish jazz trio sound in a unique atmosphere awaits you.
More information at: www.kirchmair-trio.at
Past
event
ProntoPronto
Austria’s waiter sensation puts everyone in the best of moods here at the Café Central! Fitting for carnival season, charming improvised theatre between the chairs, Viennese songs and cabaret await you.
More information at: www.prontopronto.at
Past
event
Traditional blessing of the crib
Traditional blessing of the crib in front of the Café Central, with musical accompaniment by the Innsbruck music school.
Past
event
Reading with Michael Köhlmeier
from his book “Das schöne. 59 Begeisterungen”
© Peter-Andreas Hassiepen
About the book
Rousing enthusiasms from the “gifted explainer of culture Michael Köhlmeier” Iris Radisch, Die Zeit
A seduction into reading, listening and looking openly at the world: Michael Köhlmeier invites you on a deeply personal journey, from Tolstoy through Mozart to Batman’s Joker. Whom does art speak to? Did Shakespeare invent the human – or even humankind? Did Bob Dylan create the most beautiful form of ancient lyric poetry? What is the beautiful anyway? Michael Köhlmeier strolls through the world and connects his wonder with the great and small questions of the present. He celebrates every facet of an intellectual savoir-vivre and sketches a little school of intelligent enthusiasm. This book is the ideal companion for anyone who wants to be enthused by the beautiful.
read more
About the author
Michael Köhlmeier, born in Hard on Lake Constance, lives in Hohenems/Vorarlberg and Vienna. Hanser has published the novels Abendland (2007), Madalyn (2010), Die Abenteuer des Joel Spazierer (2013), Spielplatz der Helden (2014, Erstausgabe 1988), Zwei Herren am Strand (2014), Das Mädchen mit dem Fingerhut (2016), Bruder und Schwester Lenobel (2018), Matou (2021) und zuletzt Frankie (2023), as well as the poetry collections Der Liebhaber bald nach dem Frühstück (Edition Lyrik Kabinett, 2012) und Ein Vorbild für die Tiere (poems, 2017) and the novella Der Mann, der Verlorenes wiederfindet (2017), Die Märchen (with pictures by Nikolaus Heidelbach, 2019), Das Schöne (59 Begeisterungen, 2023) und Das Philosophenschiff (2024). Michael Köhlmeier has received many awards, among them the literature prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Marie Luise Kaschnitz Prize for his complete works in 2017, and the Ferdinand Berger Prize in 2019.
Past
event
Pianist and composer Jakob Zimmermann
Jakob Zimmermann is a pianist and composer whose debut album was released in 2021 on Edition Ö1 (ORF). In his “second living room”, the Café Central, he plays a mixed programme of his own compositions and popular favourites that appeals to coffee lovers and attentive ears alike. Coffee with background music of concert quality.
Album cover photo credit: © ORF/Ö1
More information at:
www.zimmermannmusic.com
Past
event
Summer Street Jam in front of the Café Central
Dive into a world full of beats and moves!
In front of the Café Central terrace, the dancers of the Street Motion Studio present a unique spectacle: a hip hop & breaking show battle, a joint jam session and party dance animation.
DJ Dropa and DJ Funky T provide rousing beats and an incomparable atmosphere. Anyone who feels like it can join straight in with the group party dances.
More information at: streetmotionstudio.at
Past
event
Chess meet-up
The Café Central invites you to the »CHESS MEET-UP«
We invite all friends of chess to play together.
As a special highlight there is the chance to prove your playing skills in a duel against a grandmaster. A chess puzzle and a blitz tournament also await you. The Innsbruck chess school shows the game to anyone interested and shares valuable tricks.
Look forward to an exciting evening of chess. All keen players are warmly welcome, from beginners to professionals, young and old alike.
Past
event
After Work Salsa
How dance enthusiasts start the week can be experienced at the open-air flashmob with Salsa Libre. In front of the Café Central terrace, dancers from Austria’s largest salsa club offer plenty to watch – and to join in with.
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How dance enthusiasts start the week can be experienced at the open-air flashmob with Salsa Libre. In front of the Café Central terrace, dancers from Austria’s largest salsa club offer plenty to watch – and to join in with.
More at: www.salsalibre.at
Past
event
Tango Argentino
Look forward to a Tango Argentino evening with a show performance by the professional dance couple Malvina Gili and Sebastian Zanchez from Buenos Aires. For over 20 years the Argentinian couple has been conveying its passion for tango and Argentinian culture with devotion and elegance. The evening is accompanied by the live ensemble ASATO-PAIS DUO and DJ Sebastian.
Tango Argentino dancers are warmly invited to dance themselves in the elegant coffee house setting. A varied programme awaits all spectators and tango lovers.
Past
event
Innsbruck International
Innsbruck International is a biennial of contemporary art that has been inviting international artists to Innsbruck since 2013 to take over the city at historical as well as contemporary locations. In 2024 the theme of the biennial is HEAVEN CAN WAIT. This year the SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD goes to the artist Sophie Gogl.
Photo credit: InnFocus & INNSBRUCK INTERNATIONAL/WEST.Fotostudio
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Sophie Gogl, born 1992 in Kitzbühel, is a painter and sculptor whose visual language deals with the mechanisms by which motifs from films, advertising and memes appear and disappear in everyday life. The spark for her exhibition as part of INNSBRUCK INTERNATIONAL was a lost glove – propped high on a coat stand – at the Café Central. Because of its red, upright »fingers« it led the artist not only to the animated character »Feathers McGraw« but also to the theme of the feather crown and of what in life we »lose our hair over« when people disappear and only their armour remains. Standing in for this change in life, the artist swapped the Café Central’s coat stands for specially made ones and brings the »original coat stands« back to life in an exhibition in the armoury of Schloss Ambras.
The specially made coat stands can be viewed at the Café Central.
We look forward to your visit!
Photo credit: kunst-dokumentation.com
Past
event
Greetings from Vienna!
On Saturday, 13 April 2024, from 3 pm, Fredi Gradinger and Hans Radon of TrioWien play and sing traditional and new Viennese songs as well as much-loved German-language evergreens at the Café Central.
The two musicians have been performing with great success in Austria and abroad for more than 30 years, and on 13 April they will treat the guests of Innsbruck’s “Wiener Café Central” to their Viennese melodies well into the evening. They play and sing without a sound system, which means guests hear absolutely authentic coffee house music.
More information at: www.triowien.at
Past
event
The finest piano sounds from Rita Goller
For the 140th anniversary, the Tyrolean pianist Rita Goller, winner of the Tyrolean classical composition prize of the Eva Lind Music Academy, will perform well-known melodies from jazz, blues, soul and pop. Her performance is enriched by her singing, which will also make the evening varied and enjoyable.
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Rita Goller is known for her many appearances with her Rita Goller Trio, JAZZASTER and the Women’s Jazz Orchestra, as well as numerous performances with other well-known Tyrolean artists including Gail Anderson, Florian Bramböck and Sara De Blue.
More information at: www.ritagoller.at
Past
event
ProntoPronto
Austria’s waiter sensation puts everyone in the best of moods here at the Café Central! Fitting for carnival season, charming improvised theatre between the chairs, Viennese songs and cabaret await you.
More information at: www.prontopronto.at
Past
event
Cuban dance evening
Cuban music and dance in our classic old-Viennese coffee house. A feast for the senses and the palate with live music by Cucurucho Valdés and a dance performance by the Limonada Dance Company
More information at: www.innsbruck.dance