The traditional New Year’s Concert, conducted for the seventh year by maestro Riccardo Muti, recently ended in Vienna, in the prestigious Golden Hall of the Musikverein. The event, broadcast worldwide, fascinated millions of viewers with a selection of timeless songs from the Viennese repertoire, spreading a universal message of peace, brotherhood and love.
In the words of Muti, who chose his greetings in Italian, “music has the power to break down borders, build bridges and remind us of what unites us. In a world often marked by conflict and division, today we celebrate with music the universal values of peace, brotherhood and love”.
The program, as per tradition, included the famous waltzes and polkas of the Strauss dynasty, accompanied by moments of great emotion and lightness, culminating with the classic toast to the notes of the Beautiful Blue Danube and the Radetzky March. The Musikverein in Vienna once again confirms itself as the beating heart of international musical culture, offering a start to the year marked by harmony and the universality of musical language.
The 2025 New Year’s Concert has an even more special meaning as it marks the beginning of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss fils (1825-1899), the king of the waltz, a symbolic figure of Viennese music and his ability to unite cultures and peoples. As Daniel Froschauer, president of the Vienna Philharmonic, points out: “People have certain expectations for the New Year’s Concert. The great waltzes are the cornerstones of the program, with some new discoveries from the Johann Strauss era and references to an anniversary complementing the sequence. This is how Bruckner’s Quadrille came into the program last year. Constanze Geiger was an almost ideal choice.” In line with this philosophy, Froschauer personally traveled to Ravenna to meet Muti, bringing with him four scores by Geiger. The maestro chose the waltz composed by the adolescent Geiger, giving the audience a unique moment of musical rediscovery.
Johann Strauss’ bicentenary celebrations will continue throughout 2025, with concerts and events dedicated to the extraordinary legacy of one of the world’s most beloved composers.
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