Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert for the first time this Thursday, January 1, as announced earlier this year by the Philharmonic. Channels and stations Spanish Radio Television (RTVE) –La 1 HD, RTVE Play, TVE International Europe, RNE and Radio Clásica-, will broadcast the event from 11 a.m. whose commentator will be Martín Llade.
The artistic collaboration between Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Vienna Philharmonic begins at “Salzburg Mozart Week” in 2010. Since then, the conductor has regularly led the orchestra at various concerts in Vienna and Salzburg, as well as on tours.
Vienna Philharmonic President Daniel Froschauer noted earlier this year that “as music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as principal conductor of important international ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin represents the genres which together constitute the musical language of the Vienna Philharmonic. “By choosing Yannick Nézet-Séguin, we seek to fulfill our objective of collaborating more with the young generation administrators,” he said.
Five creations, including two by female composers
The Concert, which takes place every morning on January 1st since 1941, celebrates its 86th edition in its traditional location, the Great Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein, decorated with fresh flowers from the city’s gardens, according to RTVE. The Philharmonie has announced that in 2026 it will include first five coins never performed in this recital, including works by two female composers.
Since 1959, The Concert is a production of Austrian television ORF, in co-production with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU-UER-Eurovision), which broadcast in more than 150 countries around the world, with an audience of more than 50 million viewers via television and streaming.
Concretely, the concert on Thursday January 1, 2026 will begin with the opening of the operetta “Indigo and the Forty Thieves”, then listen, “for the first time during this event”, the waltz “Tales of the Danube” by Carl Michael Ziehrer, the polka “Brausteufelchen” by Eduard Strauss and the “Malapou-Galoppe” by Joseph Lanner.
As for the two works by female composers, they will be performed in the second part of the concert. the polka ‘Siren Songs’ by Joséphine Weinlich, founder of the first women’s orchestra in Europe in Vienna, as well as the “Rainbow” Waltz by Florence Price.
After the main program, the concert always ends with several reminders. The musicians therefore collectively wish a happy new year (Prosit Neujahr) and They play the “Blue Danube” waltz, by Johann Strauss Jr., ending with the “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss Sr. In recent years, masters such as Georges Prêtre, Franz Welser-Möst, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann, Andris Nelsons, Riccardo Muti and Daniel Barenboim have been invited to conduct this concert.
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