The Sound of Austria - The New Sound of Music Event GmbH

A sleazy, overpriced, tourist trap dump.

Rip off.

Was never paid in full. Avoid these crooks like the plague.

You know what I hate the most about the family of white collar criminals who runs this letterbox company? It’s not that they traffic workers illegally, launder money through their employees, and defraud the government out of money by not registering these employees properly so that taxes can be paid on their workers and so that they can receive health insurance. It’s that they are completely mediocre musicians who are protected by their largely illegally obtained financial status. When the day comes that they are rotting in jail cells and their reputations have been rightfully sullied, it will be for the betterment of the community not just because a family of criminals is behind bars, but also because the quality of what they put on is so incredibly poor. But then again, when all of your energy goes into fiendishly hoovering up as much money as you can with no regard so ethics or basic morality, is it any surprise that the majority of the performances themselves are also trash?

For the record - I posted the below review under “Work Account”, and the “Response from the owner” is very hasty, inappropriate, and telling. Since I am sure he or she will delete their response as soon as I post this, this is what the owner posted within 24 hours of the information I posted yesterday in order to be helpful to other classical musicians considering employment under Sound of Austria: — “Response from the owner in the last week Jeremy, really? So this is your plan to disguise your business-damaging behavior? You just change the name of your account? That is really cheap. Well, you have a few more days to get all this of the net. If you resist, we are forced to take legal actions. Feel proud: you are the first artist/singer/musician within 20 years, who acts like a total jerk. And you are the first person our legal department will have to deal with. Please consider your actions. It’s your choice. All the best!” — I wouldn’t have even posted what I found if Sound of Austria’s website was a functional website that didn’t look “scammy” to begin with, and they had other visibility via reviews (i.e. verified Google reviews) on the Internet. While I was unsure of this entertainment company in the first place, I am now definitely wary by the fact that somebody named as the owner is going to come online, assume I am a man named Jeremy (see, I’m a girl named Sarah), and tell me I’m “cheap”, legal actions will be taken, calls me a “total jerk”, and then tells me “All the best!”?! And he/she also writes that I am required to take a review down or I will be sued - it’s not even my review! It’s something I found and reshared. Get it together, Sound of Austria. UPDATE 1/23/16 A person claiming to be Franz Alexander Langer sent me a Facebook messageon 1/22/2016, and disabled his profile (or blocked me) in under 24 hrs. before I was able to take a screenshot of it on 1/23/2016. And I guess he is the person that wrote the “Response from the owner”. Here’s what he sent: — “Franz Alexander Langer (now says Facebook User as of 1/23/16) Sarha, regarding your comment on the sound of austria: there is one thing you should know: we are confronted with one of our former singers, who is blackmailing us. He was on stage a few times. But then he startet to complain. By then he never singed the contract. He complained about everything. The whole team of singers and musicians (65 people) stated, that he is wrong. After that he wrote those business damaging comments. After his first review I wrote an email. After that his comment vanished, but a user named "Work Account” reposted. So I thought, this is him. I am very sorry, that you had to be part of this. But please delete your comment. Meanwhile legal departments are trying to get rid of him. He insulted our guests and artists. He keeps on bragging and insulting our company. Since 28 years we are successful in staging concerts all over the world. But this person is ruining it. Please do not be part of this. I am very sorry for the misunderstanding, I never wanted to insult you personally. Kind regards, Franz Alexander Langer - The Sound of Austria" — Did Franz literally go up to 65 people and ask them if this was wrong? Without knowing intimate details of the situation, I have already been harrassed twice online from this company. In both interactions, the owner of the account deactivated (or blocked) it w/in 24 hrs. of responding to me. If all of this is incorrect, then how did the author of the review I stumbled across and reposted know the address at which he/she was promised housing with Jacco? And how are they letting people work w/o verifying papers, visa, etc. are in order, as this reviewer claims? Why would Franz admit to offering a contract after the singer has done a few shows? And if there are at least three Langers that run the company, and they have done this for 28 years globally, how would somebody in 2016 have such specific things to say in a review? Surely a tourist entertainment organization is more professional than this.

This “company” changed its registration in google to conceal the slew of negative reviews they received when it was still falsely being advertised as an opera company. It’s a scam run by a family of morbidly obese Austrians that hires Americans to work primarily as undocumented tour guides on the bus rides to the “venues” in which amateurish tourist performances of operatic reductions are given. They are performed in dirt cheap costumes that the singers are responsible for cleaning, and charged rates that are far more expensive than average tickets at an opera house. Most importantly they do not provide workers with health insurance or visas as they are required by law, and promise to pay for employee housing. But when the singers arrive in Vienna, it’s actually just a shared flat with another musician in the cast that the singers are expected to pay for. When I filed a complaint against them with the local labor office and social security office, an investigator at the latter had to personally call them on the phone and explain their many violations of the law to them with an ultimatum; either they registered me for social security or he would file a complaint against them with the Austrian government. After filing the above mentioned complaints, as well as contacting the police, I was finally partially reimbursed for the many performances I had done under the table. Since then, as recently as last month I have received harassing messages on Facebook and via email threatening me with bogus retroactive sexual harassment allegations (ironically it was a female employee who directed me to the authorizes) for bringing their illegal behavior to light. I have copied the harassing correspondence and am in touch with a lawyer weighing options for a complicated lawsuit. DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE DISGUSTING PEOPLE. They will cheat you out of money, and you will have to involve the local authorities for compensation. Also, in many parts of the EU you can’t use it on your resume, because their reputation is so bad that other theaters will think you are involved with unethical activity. Question: if the account and statements are fake, why did you change the registration of your company in google to avoid all the bad reviews? Maybe if you used as much time running your company ethically instead of coming up with witty comebacks to the bad reviews, you could provide an explanation for the host of true statements I just made about your awful company. Is anything ever your fault?

Google’s translation of the review from Michael Fischer (which is almost certainly fake) provided me with too much amusement to resist writing a review myself. There is no artistic level that one must reach in order to sing for this laughably amateurish organization. But by all means, prove me wrong. Post a video of one of these amazing performances online for all to see. They won’t though. Because they are awful. And they don’t even care that they are awful. You can’t have good performances when the only thing you care about is paying your musicians as little as possible. The only requirements are that you have a pulse and be able to speak decent enough English to charm the ripped off tourists who take a Viking River Cruises boat to Vienna while leading them on a tour though the city. A tour you ask? Why yes that’s actually your REAL job for this “company,”and the music making is just a cover. What’s that? You need a permit to work as a tour guide in Vienna? Don’t worry, the Sound of Austria will take care of that for you! Just go ahead and come to Vienna, and split the inflated rent of one of the “employees” in what they fraudulently advertise as “provided housing,” and they’ll take care of your papers. Except that they’re magically out of the “office" every time you request the necessary documentation to work legally in the country. Here’s the thing: the bad reviews are only hyperbolic in that they regard this fiasco as anything resembling a company. No one knows what this place is. After I received blunt advise from industry professionals to take my brief stint with the company off of my resume for risk of not being taken seriously as an opera singer by the ACTUAL business, I obliged. It’s fine if you are desperate to make a few bucks singing while you look for real gigs, but my advice would be to get a day job. The shows are bad enough, but many of the impoverished retirees that they’re ripping off have no idea that they could hop on the train and go down town and hear a REAL opera at the Staatsoper for as little as 3 euros, which is far less than the 50-100 they charge for their “performances.” This entire industry is a result of the abysmal labor practices of the tourist cruise lines, because of course they are the real employers, and these unscrupulous companies just exist to out source their labor. There are several of these types of “companies” in Vienna, and they are little more than email addresses and never used websites. Just don’t do it guys. Save your time, your energy, and even your money, as they fight like a tiger to underpay you. It’s not worth it. You deserve better. Also, pro tip: If you're going to claim that negative reviews are fake under the guise of positive reviews from other "clients," you should probably respond to the content of the negative reviews instead of just saying it doesn't seem true. It makes it a bit too obvious that you have no defense, especially when they are so specific and google has strict rules about not allowing defamatory content. Best wishes, Tina

This is most interesting musical experience. Beautiful music and songs, professional singers came from over the world. Events are Musicals, Sound of music, operetta, opera... Thanks for everything.