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This "Happy Hour" concert by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, led by Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck, offers a lively mix of polkas and Viennese waltzes for those who missed the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert. Soprano Magdalena Lucjan adds to the festivities, portraying Adele from Johann Strauss's "Die Fledermaus".
Vienna’s traditions for New Year’s concerts date all the way back to 1838. The format, which has become a global TV event, originated in the 1930s, always with music by the Strauss family and some other composers, and with a selection of waltzes, mazurkas, polkas and marches.Conductor Gergely Madaras grew up in Budapest and crossed the Danube daily. The distance between Budapest and Vienna via the Danube is short - Hungarian folk music and dance music has been very popular in the Austrian capital and left its mark on orchestral music there. Some of Vienna's prominent composers were Hungarians - like Franz Lehár (1870-1946). The Gold and Silver Waltz is one of his most famous works. The piano phantom Franz Liszt (1811-1886), represented by Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, also left a mark on the city.Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) was German, but still one of Vienna’s leading figures from the 1860s and on. Some of Brahm’s best friends were Hungarians, and he was strongly influenced by Hungarian music. At this concert you can hear three of his popular Hungarian Dances for orchestra. Nobody ranks higher than the Strauss Family in the Vienna New Year’s concert. Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) is represented by seven pieces at the concert, among them An der schönen blauen Donau. The concert ends with the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss Sr. (1804-1849).
The Hungarian Chamber Philharmonic, founded in 1999 by Professor Antal Barnás, consists of members from Budapest and Györ's leading orchestras. Quickly gaining a stellar European reputation, they perform regularly with Barnás conducting, including a New Year's concert tour in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and at various festivals and concert halls. They've even performed with the Vienna Boys' Choir. Other notable venues include Vienna's Musikverein, Salzburg's Mozarteum, and Munich's Prinzregententheater.
There are concerts which should be found in everyone’s calendar, particularly at the time of year when we replace our calendars with entirely new ones. Some of those are the meetings with music on New Year’s Day. Even though their repertoire is rarely surprising, this is exactly where their charm lies. Beginning another year, we want to surrender to insouciant fun and hopes of a glorious new time to come. Simultaneously, despite the time flying, we want to keep certain things the way they are.It is such an atmosphere that we are unfailingly introduced to with the most famous waltzes and polkas by members of the talented Strauss family, as well as tunes from operettas by Franz von Suppé, Franz Lehár and Bedřich Smetana. Of course, we have all heard The Blue Danube and Radetzky March, hundreds of times – but should this be of any significance? Once a year, let us once more luxuriate in the well-known melodies we have already heard so many times, just for the sake of the pleasure itself. A comfortable chair in the best concert hall in the world, the NOSPR and Nestor Bayona on stage, and danceable rhythms and melodies sparkling with joy in the air. What more could one wish for!Szymon MaliszewskiConcert duration (intermission included): approximately 110 minutes
A magical world of music awaits in the historic Laeiszhalle Hamburg! The Neue Philharmonie Hamburg presents an unforgettable concert experience in which Antonio Vivaldi’s timeless masterpiece, »The Four Seasons«, will be performed. The virtuosity of the orchestra brings this famous composition to life and allows the audience to experience the seasons in all their musical splendour. As a special highlight, the talented soprano Armine Nersisyan will take to the stage and capture the hearts of the audience with her impressive voice. She sings rousing arias and enchanting melodies from the most beautiful operettas, bringing elegance and joie de vivre to the concert hall.
Mateusz Molęda, photo: Alexej Gorlatch Instead of waiting for the usual broadcast of the New Year’s concert from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein to hear Strauss waltzes, polkas and showstopping numbers from operettas, the musical atmosphere of Vienna can be experienced during the New Year’s Eve concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic. It is not easy to grasp the genealogy of the Strauss family. Josef, Eduard and as many as three Johanns are among the most famous members of the enterprising Austrian family with Hungarian roots, which over the course of the nineteenth century produced an abundant corpus of popular songs that resounded at carnival balls. The progenitor of the musical dynasty was the first of the Johanns, who was said to have been inspired by the music of bands wandering between the Viennese taverns along the Danube. However, it was his first-born son, also Johann, who made a name for himself as the ‘king of the waltz’ and the composer of numerous popular operettas, to mention but titles such as Die Fledermaus and Wiener Blut. Another descendant, Josef, the most universally talented of the siblings, planned a different career for himself, successfully completing studies in engineering. However, a sudden substitution for the sick Johann II turned his fortunes to music for life. After Josef’s death, the youngest of the brothers, Eduard, took over the responsibility of leading the family orchestra. Together with the orchestra, he visited the most diverse corners of the world, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he published his written history of the musical Strauss family.
In 2025, Vienna will celebrate the 200th birthday of "Waltz King" Johann Strauss with a festival. The Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, led by General Music Director Andrea Sanguineti, invites you to a cheerful New Year's concert featuring Strauss's waltzes, polkas, and operetta excerpts to kick off the new year.
Begin 2025 in a musical way with us in the Great Hall - with the Konzerthausorchester, our chief conductor Joana Mallwitz, cello soloist Nicoas Altstaedt and festive and cheerful orchestral pieces from Johann Strauss' rousing Fledermaus Overture to Antonín Dvořák's turbulent “Carnival” and Ottorino Respighi's tone poem “Roman Festivals”.
Ring in the new year with a stirring celebration of classical favourites, including a complimentary drink.
The KlassikPhilharmonie Hamburg (previously Hamburger Mozart-Orchester) was founded in 1978 by conductor Robert Stehli. The orchestra’s repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the Modern period. In addition to concerts at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Mozartfest Würzburg as well as international tours, the KlassikPhilharmonie is a regular and welcome guest in Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle.
Mateusz Molęda, photo: Alexej Gorlatch Instead of waiting for the usual broadcast of the New Year’s concert from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein to hear Strauss waltzes, polkas and showstopping numbers from operettas, the musical atmosphere of Vienna can be experienced during the New Year’s Eve concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic. It is not easy to grasp the genealogy of the Strauss family. Josef, Eduard and as many as three Johanns are among the most famous members of the enterprising Austrian family with Hungarian roots, which over the course of the nineteenth century produced an abundant corpus of popular songs that resounded at carnival balls. The progenitor of the musical dynasty was the first of the Johanns, who was said to have been inspired by the music of bands wandering between the Viennese taverns along the Danube. However, it was his first-born son, also Johann, who made a name for himself as the ‘king of the waltz’ and the composer of numerous popular operettas, to mention but titles such as Die Fledermaus and Wiener Blut. Another descendant, Josef, the most universally talented of the siblings, planned a different career for himself, successfully completing studies in engineering. However, a sudden substitution for the sick Johann II turned his fortunes to music for life. After Josef’s death, the youngest of the brothers, Eduard, took over the responsibility of leading the family orchestra. Together with the orchestra, he visited the most diverse corners of the world, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, he published his written history of the musical Strauss family.
Start your New Year's Eve fireworks in a musical way with us in the Great Hall - with the Konzerthausorchester, our chief conductor Joana Mallwitz, cello soloist Nicolas Altstaedt and festive and cheerful orchestral pieces from Johann Strauss' rousing Fledermaus Overture to Antonín Dvořák's turbulent “Carnival” and Ottorino Respighi's tone poem “Roman Festivals”.
The Neue Philharmonie Hamburg was founded in 2003 and is made up of freelance professional musicians from all over the world. Its artistic portfolio focuses on symphonic music from the Baroque to the Modern periods. In addition, the Neue Philharmonie Hamburg also regularly appears in smaller formations, such as chamber music ensembles.
Alster Konfekt is an excellent salon ensemble with an extraordinary line-up. Lisa Butzlaff (flute), Fedor Erfurt (bass clarinet) and Natalya Klem (piano) cultivate the fine tradition of stylish salon and café music, charmingly and sophisticatedly presented in the best tradition of the »Palm Court« trio. In the (pre-)Christmas concert, the trio serves up a star-studded menu with an exquisite selection of fine classical music and salon music highlights. Swinging waltz melodies from the Strauss dynasty, spicy Hungarian appetisers such as »Eljen a Magyar« or Brahms’ »Hungarian Dances«, variations of unforgotten character pieces, Viennese songs, evergreens refined with the crème de la crème of salon music such as »Salut d’Amour«. With elegance, charm and verve, the Alster Konfekt trio brings musical delicacies from the noble and glamorous golden age to your ears.
Embark for the banks of the Danube. The evening starts with the voice of Sabine Devieilhe evoking the balls of imperial Vienna. But love later takes a darker turn with Pelleas und Melisande, one of the most accomplished scores by the young Schönberg.
Embark for the banks of the Danube. The evening starts with the voice of Sabine Devieilhe evoking the balls of imperial Vienna. But love later takes a darker turn with Pelleas und Melisande, one of the most accomplished scores by the young Schönberg.
Two Junior Guildhall ensembles – the Symphony Orchestra and String Ensemble – take to the stage to perform pieces by Nino Rota, Finzi, Strauss and Borodin.
We will be hearing more from Marie Jacquot! The Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna Symphony – and Chief Conductor Designate of the WDR Symphony Orchestra – inspires musicians and audiences alike with fresh interpretations as well as with the stunningly brilliant sounds she knows how to elicit from »her« Viennese orchestra. In her ProArte programme, Jacquot demonstrates an awareness of tradition by opening the concert with a Bruckner arrangement by the orchestra’s founder Ferdinand Löwe. The rest of the programme is also all about Vienna: María Dueñas returns to ProArte after her brilliant debut in March 2024 with the violin concerto by Viennese-by-choice Ludwig van Beethoven. The crowning finale is a piano quartet by probably the most famous Viennese immigrant after Beethoven: the op. 25 by Johannes Brahms, arranged for orchestra by native Viennese Arnold Schönberg.
The Albert Schweitzer Youth Orchestra is celebrating its 50th anniversary with this special concert. It is a great honour for the orchestra to have a real world star as a soloist for this occasion: Christian Tetzlaff, who also played in the Albert Schweitzer Youth Orchestra as a teenager. In the course of his international career, Christian Tetzlaff has performed with all the major orchestras, including the Vienna and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam and all the London orchestras. He has worked with legendary maestri such as Sergiu Celibidache, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnányi. Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto still occupies an outstanding position in the literature of violin concertos. It was completed in 1878 and dedicated to the famous violinist Joseph Joachim, who assisted Brahms in writing the solo part. The première was a year later in Leipzig under Brahms’ direction and with Joseph Joachim on the violin. Four years before Brahms’ violin concerto, the operetta »Die Fledermaus« was composed in 1874 by Johann Strauss (son). The overture is a brilliant compilation of the most beautiful melodies from the operetta. Cheerful with bubbling energy on the one hand and on the other hand a highly highly demanding work that requires great virtuosity from the orchestra. The opera »Der Rosenkavalier« was premiered in 1911 and is a masterful blend of comedy and romance. Richard Strauss combined all the highlights of the opera into a purely orchestral suite, in which the audience hears, among other things, the prelude to the first act, the presentation of the roses and the touching final tercet from the third act. The tumultuous Viennese waltz with which Baron Ochs leaves the bar is, of course, included.
The ensemble Philharmonix is a mix of members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. What brings them together? The shared urge to combine classical music with jazz, Latin, folk, Hollywood melodies and pop. And so, in this concert, you can hear excerpts from Strauss’s exhilarating operetta Die Fledermaus alongside Schoenberg’s forward-looking Chamber Symphony No. 1, Schubert’s romantic “Death and the Maiden” Quartet as well as a tribute to the Austrian pop singer Falco – all in witty, spirited, unconventional arrangements that play with our expectations and hold loads of surprises.
It was love at first sight for Gautier Capuçon: he had hardly picked up his first cello when he knew that he had found his instrument. »I love the position you sit in to play and the way you embrace the cello,« he said in an interview. And the listener notices this deeply personal connection between the artist and his instrument to this day when the Frenchman, in the meantime an international star, works his musical magic in concert. One of the core pieces in his repertoire is the Dvořák Cello Concerto, whose highy emotional language Capuçon illuminates in Hamburg in powerful colours. After the interval, listeners travel from Czechoslovakia to Germany: with Richard Strauss’s sensuous »Don Juan« and his mischievous »Till Eulenspiegel«, shooting star Petr Popelka and the Wiener Symphoniker bring to life two of music history’s most eccentric heroes.