
Herbert von Karajan was the first in 1987, just two years before his death, and then came Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Mehta, Riccardo Muti and many others.
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After that, with the worldwide telecasts in full swing, the orchestra decided that it would engage a different well-known conductor every year. With Boskovsky’s retirement Lorin Maazel led the concerts for seven years. It has been established that the concerts were originally conceived as a Nazi propaganda tool more on this from a paper by Oliver Rathkolb on the orchestra’s website.) (Behind the enduring glitter and gemütlichkeit there is a shadowed past. Then came Willi Boskovsky who was concertmaster of the orchestra from 1939 until 1979 and led the New Year’s Concerts for 25 years. It was he who came up with the idea and pushed for its implementation, and he led nearly all the annual celebrations from 1939 until 1954. This will be his fifth appearance as conductor of the New Year’s Concert, his most recent occurring in 2007.Ĭlemens Krauss was the first conductor of these concerts. Mehta has had a long association with the Vienna Philharmonic dating back to his student days in Vienna. Just prior to the upcoming New Year’s Concert he is leading concert performances of Bizet’s Carmen with Israel. He went on to head the New York Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Opera, and he is conductor-for-life of the Israel Philharmonic. The Indian-born Mehta, 78, has enjoyed a remarkable international career beginning with music directorships in Los Angeles and Montreal. So it’s a great honor for any conductor to lead the VPO, and especially for the high-profile New Year’s Concert. The Vienna Philharmonic is a self-governing orchestra and chooses its own conductors. (Andrews returns as host this year.) It is an upbeat occasion combining architectural treasures, over-the-top floral arrangements on the stage of the Musikverein and music that’s as light as a feather. For previous PBS telecasts, beloved figures such as Walter Cronkite and, more recently, Julie Andrews have been engaged as hosts, and the program has become as much a travel guide to Vienna and its magnificent palaces and museums as a musical event. The New Year’s Concert was first broadcast on PBS in the U.S. in 1985.

Zubin Mehta will be at the helm for the fifth time. Check local listings for the broadcast time in your area. Within weeks of the broadcast Sony Classical will release the concert on DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Disc. PBS stations throughout the United States will carry the concert on New Year’s Day. The concert will be watched by more than 50 million people in 73 countries.


But this latter group is by no means insignificant. A much smaller number will embrace the annual New Year’s Concert from Vienna, featuring the legendary Vienna Philharmonic led by Zubin Mehta. 1, 2015, millions of TV viewers will binge on college football games. (Terry Linke, Vienna Philharmonic) By Paul E. Tickets are awarded by lottery to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert, broadcast from the Musikverein.
