💫Here Is The New Year’s Day Concert From Vienna 2024 💫

On 1 January 2024, ORF will broadcast the traditional New Year’s Day Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from the Großer Musikvereinssaal in Vienna for the 66th time. The major musical event, which always welcomes in the New Year with a cheerful and contemplative programme of works by the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries, is now broadcast in around 100 countries worldwide.

For the second time since 2019, the German Christian Thielemann will once again conduct the New Year’s Concert. Since their first collaboration in 2000, he has been one of those Philharmoniker conductors who are particularly close to the orchestra. The Philharmonic Board was particularly keen to ring in the ‘Bruckner Year’ with Thielemann to mark the Upper Austrian composer’s 200th birthday. After all, Thielemann and the Philharmoniker have recorded a complete cycle of eleven Bruckner symphonies together for the first time in the orchestra’s recording history, which was released in October 2023. For the first time, the New Year’s Concert will therefore also feature a composition by Anton Bruckner (arrangement: Wolfgang Dörner), the Quadrille WAB 121, in addition to the usual Straussian waltz bliss. Bruckner will also dominate the concert interval, which will be presented by ORF with a film by Felix Breisach that traces the composer’s life between Ansfelden, Linz and Vienna with the participation of two smart choirboys from St. Florian Abbey.

The two embark on a great journey of discovery, travelling through the most beautiful Upper Austrian landscapes by balloon, exploring Anton Bruckner’s birthplace Ansfelden, wandering through Bad Ischl, the Linz Ars Electronica and Bruckner’s Viennese place of work, the Musikverein. And, they admire and support several philharmonic ensembles that interpret various arrangements of Bruckner’s works at iconic locations. Back in St Florian, the choirboys will perform their secret anthem, the famous chorus Locus iste, where Bruckner is buried under the great organ.

For the New Year’s Concert, Christian Thielemann and the Philharmonic Orchestra have selected nine pieces that have never been performed in this setting before. These include the “Archduke Albrecht March” by Karl Komzák, the “Figaro Polka” by Johann Strauss, Son, the polka “Die Hochquelle” by Eduard Strauss and the New Year’s gallop “Glædeligt Nytaar!” by Danish composer Hans Christian Lumbye.

Vienna State Ballet featured in New Year’s Day Concert

Once again, the ballet in the concert programme will be presented in places where dance has never been performed before: Bad Ischl and the Emperor’s Villa allude to the forthcoming “European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut” with the “Ischler Walzer” by Johann Strauss, son; the Renaissance Rosenburg in the northern Waldviertel, built on medieval foundations, is the imposing setting for the second waltz danced, the “Wiener Bürger” by Carl Michael Ziehrer.

Italian choreographer Davide Bombana, who last worked on the New Year’s Ballet in 2018, created the two charming dance interludes with soloists from the Vienna State Ballet, including Ketevan Papava and Eno Peci, Olga Esina, Hyo-Jung Kang, Ioanna Avraam, Elena Bottaro, Brendan Saye, Masayu Kimoto, Giorgio Fourés and Zsolt Török.

The extraordinary and very precious ballet costumes were designed for the first time by the Austrian Susanne Bisovsky. The fashion designer, who was born in Linz and lives in Vienna, studied under Vivienne Westwood and worked with J.Ch. de Castelbajac and Helmut Lang. Susanne Bisovsky’s world of clothing, which she develops together with her partner Joseph Bonwit Gerger, unfolds primarily under the name “Viennese Chic”. This draws on the historical, borrows from traditional costume and folklore with typical floral designs and draws inspiration from all over the world with elegant panache.

Michael Beyer is the director responsible for the ballet interludes pre-produced in August 2023 and will also lead the television team with 15 cameras during the broadcast on 1 January. The live commentary of the concert will once again be provided by cultural presenter Teresa Vogl.