Wiener Philharmoniker / Gustavo Dudamel / Yuja Wang 2019 SUMMER NIGHT CONCERT

Central to the programme of the Vienna Philharmonic’s 2019 Summer Night Concert is a musical history of the United States of America: the works that are heard this year were composed in or for the USA, while also constituting links with the Viennese musical tradition. At the same time the concert venue – the historic park at Schönbrunn Palace – is celebrating a double jubilee this year. It was 450 years ago that the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II bought the land and the buildings on it and a century ago that Schönbrunn became the property of the newly founded Austrian Republic. This is the second time in the orchestra’s history that the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel has been in charge of a Summer Night Concert – he first did the honours in 2012. The soloist is the Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang, who is making her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna – she has already appeared with the orchestra on tour.

Vienna Philharmonic / Christian Thielemann 2019 NEW YEAR'S CONCERT

There are few concerts in the world that are awaited with as much excitement as the New Year’s Concert from Vienna. Under the direction of Christian Thielemann, the Vienna Philharmonic ushered in the New Year 2019 with a concert in the magnificent Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein.

The concert was broadcast on TV and Radio to over ninety countries all around the world, reaching an audience of more than 50 million people.

The 2019 New Year’s Concert was conducted for the first time by Christian Thielemann. A native of Berlin, Thielemann has been a regular and welcome guest of the Vienna Philharmonic since 2000, with the result that his first New Year’s Concert may be seen as setting an example and providing an appropriate tribute to his previous work with the orchestra. According to the orchestra’s chairman, Daniel Froschauer, orchestra and musicians trust each other completely: “The profound musical understanding and trust that have existed from the outset and that have always functioned perfectly have subsequently borne remarkable fruit in the symphonic repertory as well.”

Gustavo Dudamel / Vienna Philharmonic NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 2017

The 2017 New Year's Concert took place on January 1, 2017, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel in the Vienna Musikverein. Gustavo Dudamel, who was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela in 1981, became the youngest conductor in the 75 year history of the New Year's Concert. In 2007, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time at the Lucerne Festival and made his debut at the Vienna Philharmonic Subscription Concerts in 2011. Dudamel conducted the Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn in 2012 and led the orchestra on its traditional Vienna Philharmonic Week in Japan in 2014.

The 2017 New Year's Concert was broadcast in over 90 countries and followed by up to 50 million television viewers around the world.