Maryland's Classical Music Station

01/01/15 – New Year’s Day From Vienna – 11AM

New Year’s Concert 2015

CONDUCTOR: Zubin Mehta

COMPOSITIONS BY: Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss, Jr., Josef Strauss, Eduard Strauss, Hans Christian Lumbye, Johann Strauss, sen.

The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert takes place under the baton of Zubin Mehta on January 1, 2015, in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. The Philharmonic’s Honorary Conductor Zubin Mehta, with whom the orchestra has enjoyed an artistic partnership for over 50 years, conducts the New Year’s Concert for the fifth time.
This year’s concert will be broadcast in over 90 countries around the world and will be seen by 50 million television viewers. The program for the New Year’s Concert 2015 features numerous compositions by Johann Strauss Father and Son, Eduard and Josef Strauss as well as works by Franz von Suppé und Hans Christian Lumbye. Five pieces are being performed for the first time as part of the New Year’s Concert. The program also commemorates 650 years of the University of Vienna and 200 years of the Technical University of Vienna.

 

Worldwide Broadcast

It has long been a Philharmonic tradition at the New Year to present a program consisting of the lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audiences in the Musikverein in Vienna, but also enjoy great international popularity through the world wide television broadcast, which now reaches over 80 countries.

Originating during a dark period of Austria’s history, these concerts were initially conceived for a local audience as a reminder of better times and a source of hope for the future. Today millions of people throughout the world are similarly encouraged by the light-hearted yet subtly profound character of this music, and draw joy and optimism for the New Year ahead.

Read about the history of the New Year’s Concert here.