The 2019 Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert

One of the most anticipated events of the classical calendar, the Vienna Philharmonic’s exquisite New Year’s Concert brings the musicians of the prestigious orchestra together under the baton of a different influential conductor each year. Centered around a wide variety of dances in the Viennese style—especially the world-famous waltzes of the Strauss family—every edition brims with stately serenity and a hint of mischief, the perfect way to begin your New Year in music.

In 2019, preeminent German conductor Christian Thielemann was chosen to lead the annual celebration in Vienna. The concert begins with the spirited Schönfeld-Marsch, a classic military march in the Austrian style by Carl Michael Ziehrer—perhaps the chief rival of Eduard Strauss and Johann Strauss, Jr., during their lifetimes. Over a century later, thankfully, their styles complement each other beautifully as the orchestra continues with dances by the Strauss family and Josef Hellmesberger, himself an early 20th-century principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Photo © Terry Linke