Indianapolis Symphony Blog

Every year, the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras, performs a series of New Year’s Concerts on December 30, 31, and January 1.  These concerts have become beloved around the world through the annual broadcast of the New Year’s Day performance.  These programs feature almost exclusively Austrian music, and in particular, music of the Johann Strauss family:  waltzes, polkas, overtures, and the like.

I’m thrilled that this year, for the first time in a number of years, the ISO will be doing an entire New Year’s Eve performance inspired by this wonderful tradition, and I have the privilege of conducting it.  This is music that is very close to my heart – it has an elegance, charm, and nobility matched by little else in the repertoire.  I’ve done individual pieces from this concert on many other occasions in the past, but this will be my first time doing an entire concert of Viennese repertoire, so I’m really looking forward to it.

The video productions of the VPO concerts frequently feature dance performances with the musical ones, and so I’m delighted that in that spirit, Indy’s own Dance Kaleidoscope will be joining us on stage for several numbers.  I saw their choreography the other day, and DK Artistic Director David Hochoy has done a great job of capturing the special qualities of this music.  Also in the tradition of the VPO concerts, we will have a wonderful guest soprano, Jacqueline Brecheen, to sing several arias from Viennese operettas.

I’ll leave you with a video from the 1987 VPO performance, with Herbert von Karajan conducting the famous “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” waltzes, also featuring dancers from the Vienna State Opera Ballet.

See you (New Year’s Eve) at the Symphony!