New Year's Concert 2018

As a brand name, the Vienna New Year's Concert can trace back its origins to 31 December 1939. In other words, the concert initially took place on the last day of the year. By 1941, however, it was being held on 1 January, when the Vienna Philharmonic established a tradition that continues to flourish to this day.

The list of names of leading conductors who have led the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concerts reads like a veritable who's who of great maestros: including Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Franz Welser-Möst and Gustavo Dudamel.

o Riccardo Muti will return and conduct the New Year's concert for the 5th time (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004). Together with Zubin Mehta, who also conducted the New Year's concert five times, Muti is one of the most engaged New Year's Concert conductors since the era of Lorin Maazel

o Muti conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in around 500 concerts and has a close connection to the orchestra

o "The particular quality of his performances give Riccardo Muti an exceptional status in the history of the Vienna Philharmonic. Muti's interpretation is known for his intense study of sources and he is a profound connoisseur of the orchestra's specific sound" says Vienna Philharmonic's former chairman Andreas Großbauer

o The New Year's Concert live from Vienna is one of the world's most famous and spectacular classical music events. It will be broadcast on TV and radio and reaches over 90 countries around the world with more than 40 million viewers

o The annual New Year's Day Concert in Vienna has been a major event for more than eight decades

o The resulting recordings with works from the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries are among the classical market's most important releases