Template:Redirect Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox recurring event The Vienna New Year's Concert ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is an annual concert of classical music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic on the morning of New Year's Day in Vienna, Austria. The concert occurs at the Musikverein at 11:15. The orchestra performs the same concert programme on 30 December, 31 December, and 1 January but only the last concert is broadcast every year on radio and television.
Music and settingEdit
The concert programmes always include pieces from the Strauss family—Johann Strauss I, Johann Strauss II, Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss. On occasion, music principally of other Austrian composers, including Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., Joseph Lanner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Otto Nicolai (the Vienna Philharmonic's founder), Emil von Reznicek, Franz Schubert, Carl Zeller, Carl Millöcker, Franz von Suppé, and Carl Michael Ziehrer has featured in the programmes. In 2009, music by Joseph Haydn was played for the first time, where the 4th movement of his "Farewell" Symphony marked the 200th anniversary of his death. Other European composers such as Hans Christian Lumbye, Jacques Offenbach, Émile Waldteufel, Richard Strauss, Verdi, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky have been featured in recent programmes.
The announced programme contains approximately 14 to 20 compositions, and also three encores. The announced programme includes waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, and marches. Of the encores, the unannounced first encore is often a fast polka. The second is Johann Strauss II's waltz "The Blue Danube", whose introduction is interrupted by light applause of recognition and a New Year's greeting in German (originally added by Willi Boskovsky) from the conductor and orchestra to the audience. The origin of this tradition stems from the New Year's Concert of 1954, when the audience interrupted three pieces by enthusiastically applauding and cheering. The final encore is Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March, during which the audience claps along under the conductor's direction. This did not start until 1958. In this last piece, tradition also calls for the conductor to start the orchestra as soon as they step onto the stage, before reaching the podium. The complete duration of the event is around two and a half hours.
The concerts have been held in the "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (Golden Hall) of the Musikverein since 1939. The television broadcast is augmented by ballet performances in selected pieces during the second part of the programme. The dancers come from the Vienna State Ballet and dance at different famous places in Austria, e. g. Schönbrunn Palace, Schloss Esterházy, the Vienna State Opera or the Wiener Musikverein itself. In 2013, the costumes were designed by Vivienne Westwood.<ref>Tanz das Jahr – Das Shooting, Der Standard, 30 December 2013 Template:In lang</ref> From 1980 until 2013, the flowers that decorated the hall were a gift from the city of Sanremo, Liguria, Italy. In 2014, the orchestra itself provided the flowers. Since 2014, the flowers have been arranged by the Wiener Stadtgärten (Vienna municipal gardens). New attire by designers Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler debuted in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
HistoryEdit
There has been a tradition of concerts on New Year's Day in Vienna since 1838, but not with music of the Strauss family. From 1928 to 1933, there were six New Year's concerts in the Musikverein, conducted by Johann Strauss III. These concerts were broadcast by the RAVAG.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Failed verification</ref> In 1939, Clemens Krauss, with the support of Vienna Gauleiter Baldur von Schirach, devised a New Year's concert which the orchestra dedicated to Kriegswinterhilfswerk (Winter War Relief), to improve morale at the front lines.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After World War II, this concert survived, as the Nazi origins were largely forgotten, until more recently.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The concert was first performed in 1939, and conducted by Clemens Krauss. For the first and only time, the concert was not given on New Year's Day, but instead on 31 December of that year. It was called then a special, or 'extraordinary' concert ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Johann Strauss II was the only composer performed, in a modest program:
- "Morgenblätter", Op. 279, waltz
- "Template:Ill", Op. 117
- Csárdás, from the opera Ritter Pázmán
- "Kaiser-Walzer", Op. 437
- "Leichtes Blut", Polka schnell, Op. 319
- "Egyptischer Marsch", Op. 335
- "G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald", Walzer, Op. 325
- "Pizzicato-Polka"
- "Perpetuum mobile", ein musikalischer Scherz, Op. 257
- Overture to the operetta Die Fledermaus
EncoresEdit
There were no encores in 1939, and sources indicate that encores were not instituted until 1945. Clemens Krauss almost always included "Perpetuum mobile" either on the concert or as an encore. The waltz "The Blue Danube" was not performed until 1945, and then as an encore. The "Radetzky March" was first performed in 1946, as an encore. Until 1958, these last two pieces were often but not always given as encores. Since that year, their position as twin encores has become inviolable tradition, with two exceptions:
- In 1967, Willi Boskovsky made "The Blue Danube" part of his concert program to commemorate the work's centenary; its encore position was occupied by Johann Strauss II's "Template:Ill, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Op. 324. Additionally, an actor impersonating the composer of the work appeared during the concert.
- In 2005, Lorin Maazel and the orchestra concluded the program with "The Blue Danube", omitting the "Radetzky March" as a mark of respect to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. One unannounced encore, a gallop or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, is always placed before "The Blue Danube", and after the final announced work on the printed concert programme. It has also been a jocular composition.
ConductorsEdit
ImageSize = width:290 height:920
PlotArea = width:180 height:800 left:50 bottom:100
Legend = columns:3 left:10 top:90 columnwidth:100
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1939 till:2027
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1940
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1939
- there is no automatic collision detection,
- so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap
Colors=
id:AUT value:rgb(0.929,0.161,0.224) legend:Austrian
id:USA value:rgb(0.235,0.231,0.431) legend:American
id:FRA value:rgb(0,0.137,0.584) legend:French
id:IND value:rgb(1,0.6,0.2) legend:Indian
id:ITA value:rgb(0,0.573,0.275) legend:Italian
id:ARG value:rgb(0.6,0.804,1) legend:Argentinian
id:JPN value:rgb(0.737,0,0.176) legend:Japanese
id:LAT value:rgb(0.62,0.188,0.224) legend:Latvian
id:VEN value:rgb(0.969,0.82,0.09) legend:Venezuelan
id:GER value:black legend:German
id:CAN value:rgb(1,0.51,0.51) legend:Canadian
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $dy = -4 # adjust height
PlotData=
bar:Conductors width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
from:1939 till:1940 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Clemens Krauss
from:1941 till:1946 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Clemens Krauss
from:1946 till:1948 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Josef Krips
from:1948 till:1955 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Clemens Krauss
from:1955 till:1980 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Willi Boskovsky
from:1980 till:1987 shift:($dx,$dy) color:USA text:Lorin Maazel
from:1987 till:1988 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Herbert von Karajan
from:1988 till:1989 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Claudio Abbado
from:1989 till:1990 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Carlos Kleiber
from:1990 till:1991 shift:($dx,$dy) color:IND text:Zubin Mehta
from:1991 till:1992 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Claudio Abbado
from:1992 till:1993 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Carlos Kleiber
from:1993 till:1994 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:1994 till:1995 shift:($dx,$dy) color:USA text:Lorin Maazel
from:1995 till:1996 shift:($dx,$dy) color:IND text:Zubin Mehta
from:1996 till:1997 shift:($dx,$dy) color:USA text:Lorin Maazel
from:1997 till:1998 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:1998 till:1999 shift:($dx,$dy) color:IND text:Zubin Mehta
from:1999 till:2000 shift:($dx,$dy) color:USA text:Lorin Maazel
from:2000 till:2001 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:2001 till:2002 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Nikolaus Harnoncourt
from:2002 till:2003 shift:($dx,$dy) color:JPN text:Seiji Ozawa
from:2003 till:2004 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Nikolaus Harnoncourt
from:2004 till:2005 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:2005 till:2006 shift:($dx,$dy) color:USA text:Lorin Maazel
from:2006 till:2007 shift:($dx,$dy) color:LAT text:Mariss Jansons
from:2007 till:2008 shift:($dx,$dy) color:IND text:Zubin Mehta
from:2008 till:2009 shift:($dx,$dy) color:FRA text:Georges Prêtre
from:2009 till:2010 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ARG text:Daniel Barenboim
from:2010 till:2011 shift:($dx,$dy) color:FRA text:Georges Prêtre
from:2011 till:2012 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Franz Welser-Möst
from:2012 till:2013 shift:($dx,$dy) color:LAT text:Mariss Jansons
from:2013 till:2014 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Franz Welser-Möst
from:2014 till:2015 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ARG text:Daniel Barenboim
from:2015 till:2016 shift:($dx,$dy) color:IND text:Zubin Mehta
from:2016 till:2017 shift:($dx,$dy) color:LAT text:Mariss Jansons
from:2017 till:2018 shift:($dx,$dy) color:VEN text:Gustavo Dudamel
from:2018 till:2019 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:2019 till:2020 shift:($dx,$dy) color:GER text:Christian Thielemann
from:2020 till:2021 shift:($dx,$dy) color:LAT text:Andris Nelsons
from:2021 till:2022 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:2022 till:2023 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ARG text:Daniel Barenboim
from:2023 till:2024 shift:($dx,$dy) color:AUT text:Franz Welser-Möst from:2024 till:2025 shift:($dx,$dy) color:GER text:Christian Thielemann
from:2025 till:2026 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ITA text:Riccardo Muti
from:2026 till:2027 shift:($dx,$dy) color:CAN text:Yannick Nézet-Séguin</timeline>
Boskovsky, concertmaster of the orchestra from 1939 until 1970, directed the Vienna New Year's concerts from 1955 to 1979. In 1980, Lorin Maazel became the first non-Austrian conductor of the concert. The orchestra subsequently changed practice, to choose a different conductor every year. The first such choice was Herbert von Karajan, for the 1987 concert.
- Clemens Krauss: 1939, 1941–1945, 1948–1954
- Josef Krips: 1946–1947
- Willi Boskovsky: 1955–1979
- Lorin Maazel: 1980–1986, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2005
- Herbert von Karajan: 1987
- Claudio Abbado: 1988, 1991
- Carlos Kleiber: 1989, 1992
- Zubin Mehta: 1990, 1995, 1998, 2007, 2015<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Riccardo Muti: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2018, 2021, 2025
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt: 2001, 2003
- Seiji Ozawa: 2002
- Mariss Jansons: 2006, 2012, 2016<ref>"Mariss Jansons dirigiert Neujahrskonzert 2016", ORF, 1 January 2015</ref>
- Georges Prêtre: 2008, 2010
- Daniel Barenboim: 2009, 2014,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2022<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Franz Welser-Möst: 2011, 2013,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2023
- Gustavo Dudamel: 2017<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Christian Thielemann: 2019,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2024<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
- Andris Nelsons: 2020<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Yannick Nézet-Séguin: 2026 (scheduled)<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
Audience and broadcastEdit
The concert is popular throughout Europe, and more recently around the world. The demand for tickets is so high that people have to pre-register one year in advance in order to participate in the drawing of tickets for the following year. Some seats are pre-registered by certain Austrian families and are passed down from generation to generation.
The Austrian national broadcasting service ORF broadcasts the concert on radio and televises the concert. From 1989 to 1993, 1997 to 2009, and in 2011, the telecast was under the direction of Brian Large. The telecast is relayed via the European Broadcasting Union's Eurovision network to most major broadcasting organizations in Europe. On 1 January 2013, for example, the concert was shown on Één and La Une in Belgium, ZDF in Germany, France 2 in France, BBC Two in the United Kingdom, Rai 2 in Italy (on some hours delay), RSI La 1 in Switzerland, La 1 in Spain, ČT2 in the Czech Republic, RTP1 in Portugal, and TVP2 in Poland, among many other channels. The concert was again televised by ORF on 1 January 2015 and 1 January 2016. Estimated audience numbers are ~50 million, in 73 countries in 2012, 93 countries in 2017 and 95 countries in 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Past radio presenters have included Ernst Grissemann, Paul Angerer, and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz. Recent radio presenters have been Albert Hosp and Eva Teimel. Past television presenters have included Grissemann, who presented the concert for 25 years, and Barbara Rett, from 2008 to 2022. The current ORF TV presenter for the concert is Teresa Vogl, beginning with the 2023 concert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Outside Europe, the concert is also shown on PBS in the United States (beginning in 1985, as part of the performing arts anthology Great Performances, in abridged form), CCTV in China since 1987 (being telecast live since 1989, except in 1990)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while also being broadcast live by CNR in China since 2013,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> NHK in Japan since 1973,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> MetroTV in Indonesia, KBS in South Korea, and SBS in Australia (until 2018, on delay). Since 2006, the concert has also been broadcast to viewers in several African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In Latin America the concert is shown in Chile by La Red, and in Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia. Indonesia's MetroTV broadcasts the concert although it is delayed by four to five days. The concert was broadcast for the first time in Mongolia, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Recent historyEdit
In 2021, the Vienna New Year's Concert took place without an audience, for the first time in the concert's history, because of public-health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 2022 concert with Daniel Barenboim featured a live audience limited to 1,000 patrons,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the ORF radio transmission on Ö1 featured Template:Ill as presenter, the first female radio presenter for ORF in the history of the concert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The 2023 concert featured the Vienna Girls Choir (Wiener Chormädchen) in its first-ever appearance in the concert, the first female choir ever to participate in the concert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 2025 concert included the "Fernandus-Walzer" of Constanze Geiger, in an orchestration by Wolfgang Dörner, the first music by a female composer ever programmed in the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert.<ref name="Presse2024">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Commercial recordingsEdit
A commercial recording has been made for every concert from 1987, the more recent being released within a matter of days of the event.
Decca Records made the first of the live commercial recordings in 1975. The 1979 digital recording was the label's first digital LP release, marking Boskovsky's last appearance. The recordings made with Maazel in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 did not specify the year on the album cover (opting instead for the titles, New Year's in Vienna, New Year's Concert, Prosit Neujahr! and Wiener Bonbons respectively). The 1983 concert also marked the first simultaneous CD release (all the earlier concerts would follow as CD reissues). The Karajan recording was similarly undated on the cover, being entitled Neujahrskonzert in Wien. Only with the first Abbado concert in 1988 was the year specified, which has been the case on each release thereafter.
| Recording label | Years recorded |
|---|---|
| Decca Records | 1975, 1979, 2008–2011 |
| Deutsche Grammophon | 1980–1983, 1987–1988, 1991, 2003–2007 |
| Sony Classical Records | 1989–1990, 1992, 1994–1995, 2012–2025 |
| Philips Classics Records | 1993, 2002 |
| BMG | 1996, 1998–1999 |
| EMI | 1997, 2000 |
| Teldec | 2001 |
Other New Year's concerts in ViennaEdit
The Vienna Hofburg Orchestra's traditional New Year's Eve Concert takes place on 31 December in the halls of the Hofburg Palace. The program features waltz and operetta melodies by Johann Strauss, Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Lehár and opera arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The all-female chamber ensemble La Philharmonica gave its inaugural concert on 1 January 2025, with selections by Leopoldine Blahetka, Gisela Frankl, Constanze Geiger, Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., Mathilde Kralik, Johann Strauss II, Maria Anna Stubenberg, and Josephine Amann-Weinlich.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra German-language page on the Neujahrskonzert
- Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra German-language page on the New Year's Concert
- "The History of the New Year's Concert" by Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, Vienna Philharmonic
Template:Vienna Philharmonic Template:New Year Template:Authority control Template:Portal bar