After Riccardo Muti this year, it is Yannick Nézet-Séguin who will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic for the traditional New Year's 2026 concert. A first for the Canadian conductor.
Since 2017 and Gustavo Dudamel, no conductor from the Americas has worked at the Musikverein for the traditional New Year's concert. But after Christian Thielemann (twice), Andris Nelsons, Daniel Barenboim, Franz-Welser Möst and Riccardo Muti (3 times) is once again a maestro from across the Atlantic who will be at the head of the Wiener Philharmoniker on January 1, 2026.
And the winner is… Yannick Nézet-Séguin who will officiate for the first time in his career at this prestigious event broadcast live around the world. But the Quebec conductor, musical director of the Met Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchester Métropolitain de Montréal, knows the Vienna Philharmonic well, which he has conducted regularly in the Austrian capital, in Salzburg and in toured for around fifteen years.
The Vienna Philharmonic wishes “work more with the younger generation of conductors“
In a press release, Daniel Froschauer, the president of the great Viennese orchestra, recalls that “Since 2010, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has maintained a close and fruitful artistic collaboration with Yannick Nézet-Séguin (…) He embodies the genres which together constitute the musical language of the Viennese band. By choosing it, we wish to fulfill our objective of working more with the younger generation of conductors.”
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To date, in 85 editions since 1940, only 18 conductors, all men, have led the Vienna Philharmonic in the New Year's concert. The vast majority were European maestros. Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be only the fifth non-European to have this honor after Zubin Mehta (India), Seiji Ozawa (Japan), Daniel Barenboim (Israel-Argentina) and Gustavo Dudamel (Venezuela). When will a woman be?
Philippe Gault
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