The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert It has long been a Philharmonic New Year’s Day tradition 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 their contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audience in the Wiener Musikverein, but also enjoy great international popularity through the worldwide television broadcasts, which now reach over 50 countries. The concert was conducted by Seiji Ozawa for the first time in 2002 and the light-hearted nature of the event finds this always engaging conductor at his most impishly playful.

"The Kleiber must-haves are two New Year's concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic (1989, from Deutsche Grammophon; 1992, from Philips). Here is the very essence of joyous music-making with the added visual value of the sumptuous large hall of the Musikverein in Vienna." - New York Times

“One can share in a more carefree expression of joy here. Many fine conductors have presided over these traditional Strauss tributes, but none with such élan as the late Carlos Kleiber. The music swings and sways in terpsichorean ecstasy. Kleiber appears blissful as he inscribes elegant arcs with his baton, and the players beam.” (Gramophone)

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the greatest media event in classical music, Sony Classical released in 2015 a complete edition of all the works ever played at the Wiener Philharmoniker’s New Year’s Concerts. Performed in the “Golden Hall” of the Musikverein between 1941 and 2015, the iconic live performances were issued for the first time in a single box set of 23 CDs. Now, in 2020, this edition will be available as a 26-CD extended version, with all the new repertoire from the last five years compiled on three additional CDs.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt The Complete Sony Recordings brings together for the first time Harnoncourt s complete recordings from 2002-2015 with his Concentus Musicus Wien, the Wiener Philharmonike, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Symphonieorchester des Bayrischen Rundfunks. The Sony Classical edition features his famous symphony recordings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner, alongside his celebrated performances of great choral works such as the Verdi, Brahms and Mozart Requiems and Haydn's Die Schöpfung, as well as Mozart's opera Zaide, Haydn's Orlando paladino and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Also included are previously authorized but unreleased recordings of J. S. Bach s Cantatas Nos. 26 & 36, Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge and Dvorák's Stabat Mater.

Das berühmte Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker ist auch 2020 der prachtvolle und exzellente Auftakt zum neuen Klassik-Jahr.Im festlichen und für seinen Klang berühmten Goldenen Saal des Wiener Musikvereins präsentieren die Wiener Philharmoniker ein beschwingtes Programm.Erstmals leitet der lettische Dirigent Andris Nelsons, einer der besten Dirigenten der Welt und bekannt auch als Chef des Gewandhauses Leipzig, die Wiener Philharmoniker, mit denen er seit vielen Jahren eng verbunden ist.Das unterhaltsame Programm enthält bekannte und entdeckenswerte Walzer und Polkas von Johann Strauss Vater und Sohn, Carl Michael Ziehrer, Franz von Suppé, Hans Christian Lumbye und anderen Komponisten.Und das allererste Mal ist bei einem Neujahrskonzert auch Musik von Ludwig van Beethoven zu hören, dessen 250.Geburtstag die Klassik-Welt 2020 feiert.