AND the most famous concert in the worldthe inaugural event of the new year that enchants everyone with the quality of the music, the beauty and liveliness of the melodies, the ancient and precious context, the flower compositions that decorate the setting. The Vienna New Year’s Concerta tradition that has been renewed for almost a century, opens up to an imagination of wonderful landscapes, stories of love and battles, trees reflected on the water of the Danube.
In the Sala of the Musics on January 1st it takes place there Vienna Philharmonic Orchestraone of the most renowned orchestras in the world, in a musical program that celebrates the past and looks to the future.
An event that marks the transition to the new year for 50 million spectators who follow it via streaming in over 150 countries. We Italians can see it on Rai 2 at 1.30pm. on Rai 5 in an evening repeat, and we can listen to it on Rai Radio 3 live in full from 11.15am. Who was called this year to direct the event’s varied musical program? After the direction of our Riccardo Muti in 2025for the first time on the podium of the New Year’s Concert will be Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
An internationally renowned artist, Nézet-Séguin is the musical director of the Metropolitan Opera in New Yorkfrom the Philadelphia Orchestrafor 25 years musical director and principal conductor of theMontreal Metropolitan Orchestrafrom 2008 to 2018 principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The Canadian maestro intends to give a highly modern energy to the Viennese score, to highlight the elegance of the Strauss family’s compositions and their contemporaries but also the subtle nuances and colors of songs presented for the first time. Its particularity always lies in the ability to represent the elegance of Austro-German music, mainly that of the Strauss family, and the joyful atmosphere of the beginning of the year.
In the 2026 New Year’s Concert, five works make their debut and, for the first time in its history, two compositions by women appear, including the lively symphonic waltz by African-American pioneer Florence Price.
The musical program
Johann Strauss II: Overtüre to the Operetta “Indigo and the Forty Thieves”
Carl Michael Ziehrer: Danube Legend Waltz, op. 446
Joseph Lanner: Malapu-Gallops – on. 148
Eduard Strauss: Brausteufelchen – Polka schnell, op. 154
Johann Strauss II: Bat Quadrille, op. 363
Johann Strauss I: The Carnival in Paris. Gallop, op. 100
Franz von Suppè: Overture to the operetta “The Beautiful Galathée”
Josephine Weinlich Siren Songs: Polka mazur, op. 13 [Arr. W. Dörner]
Josef Strauss female dignity. Waltz, op. 277
Johann Strauss II. Diplomat Polka. Polka francaise, op. 448
Florence Price Rainbow Waltz [Arr. W. Dörner]
Hans Christian Lumbye Copenhagen Railway-Steam-Gallop
Johann Strauss II. Roses from the South, Waltz, op. 388 John
Strauss II. Egyptian March (Egyptian March), op. 335
Josef Strauss. Olive Branch Waltz, op. 207
Fun fact: Strauss’ music was once ignored by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
The international popularity of the New Year’s Concert may give the impression that the performance of the music of the Strauss dynasty by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra extends back to Johann Strauss Sr.
Nothing could be more wrong. “For a long period of time the Philharmonic ignored the most ‘Viennese’ music ever written – reads the Philharmonic’s website Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – the musicians probably did not want to jeopardize the social progress they had experienced at the introduction of the Philharmonic concerts by associating themselves with ‘popular music.’” This attitude towards the Strauss dynasty changed only gradually. A determining factor in its revaluation was that the members of this unique family of composers enjoyed the highest respect among leading composerssuch as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. The first meeting between Johann Strauss Jr. and the musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic took place after the composition of the waltz “Wiener Blut”, op. 354, for the Vienna Opera Ball in the main hall of the Musikverein on 22 April 1873. Strauss himself conducts it. Even after the composer’s death, the musicians of the Philharmonic did not immediately become supporters of Strauss’ music. Only in 1921 did things begin to change. On the occasion of the presentation of the Johann Strauss Memorial in the Vienna City Park Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922) leads some waltzes including “On the beautiful blue Danube”. The final turning point is the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Strauss Sn (1804-1849). Felix von Weingartner conducts the waltz “On the Blue Danube” in the Philharmonic’s subscription concert program and, for the first timea concert composed exclusively of works by Strauss. That will be the first step towards welcoming Strauss’ music into the Orchestra’s repertoire, today the heart of the Vienna New Year’s Concert.
The excellence of dance: the corps de ballet of the Vienna State Opera directed by the Italian Alessandra Ferri
The ballet moments, filmed in the most beautiful historic homes of the Austrian capital, act as a counterpoint to the music for the audience who follows the Concert from home. As per tradition, some film sequences of the Wiener Staatsballett punctuate the television program international, linking music to dance as if it were a narrative within the concert. Signing the choreographies for 2026, a few months after the leadership of the corps de ballet was entrusted to the world star Alessandra FerriAnd John Neumeier. The Hamburg choreographer, author of historical masterpieces such as “The Lady of the Camellias”, creates two very elegant miniatures for the event: a suspended dance on the “Rosen aus dem Süden” waltz, a sparkling polka on the “Diplomaten-Polka”. Elegance, poetry, refinement of movement come together with the architecture of the Mak-Museum of Applied Arts and the Hofburg complexonce an imperial palace, with its famous Ambassadors’ Staircase. The costumes created by Albert Kriemler are fans of folds, floral motifs and transparencies, between pastel and bright colours.
