Vienna Philharmonic New Year Concert 2023 – broadcast to over 90 countries

The event will also feature a live audience, for the first time since the pandemic

On 1 January, the Vienna Philharmonic will perform their traditional New Year’s Concert with a live audience for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Additionally, the orchestra’s conductor Franz Welser-Möst has said that there will be 14 to 15 performed for the first time.

This year’s programme will be broadcasted to over 90 countries and will feature the music of Josef Strauss quite prominently. Moreover, the concert will feature a fireworks show, despite Vienna’s crackdown on New Year fireworks displays for private citizens.

The film during the concert break is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Vienna World Exhibition. It was created by Barbara Weissenbeck and Nicholas Pöschl and features a virtual recreation of the Prater, the tallest domed building in the world at the time.

Innovation at the Vienna Philharmonic   

This is a year of innovation for the Philharmonic with a new selection of pieces from Josef Strauss, alongside well-loved classics. But it is also a year of innovation in breaking gender norms. For the first time in 2023, Vienna’s Girls’ Choir will sing next to the Boys’ Choir, traditionally present at the annual performance.

The Girls’ Choir was established in 2004. As the ORF reports, the girls will be dressed in a marine-inspired blue uniform to complement the sailor’s outfits of the Boys’ Choir when they sing Strauss’ “Heiterer Muth”.

During a press conference on 29 December, Daniel Froschauer, a board member at the Philharmonic, was asked about when can people expect a woman to direct the New Year Concert. He explained that this was the most important job in classical music in Austria and the question was not about gender but about experience and choosing the right person.