Mariss Jansons

Julie Andrews hosts the annual program with the Vienna Philharmonic, this year conducted by Mariss Jansons, and with the Vienna Boys’ Choir and Vienna State Ballet soloists. Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns for the seventh time to host the festive annual New Year’s Day celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic from Vienna’s Musikverein, a beloved annual tradition that also highlights the scenic capital of Austria, Vienna. Maestro Jansons is returning for the third time to conduct the ever-popular concert of melodies by the Strauss Family and their contemporaries.

The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic (German: Das Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker) is a concert of classical music that takes place each year in the morning of January 1 in Vienna, Austria. It is broadcast around the world to an estimated audience of 50 million in 73 countries (as of 2012).

The Vienna New Year's Concert is the world's most famous classical music event. The 2012 concert will feature the second appearance of Mariss Jansons as conductor whose 2006 appearance was widely acclaimed by both audiences and the media. The program for the 2012 concert, on Blu-ray and DVD in its entirety, is once again a skillful blend of well-known classics, several premieres, and works that have never been recorded or are rarely heard. As always, the concert ends with two traditional encores the famous waltz The Blue Danube and the Radetzky March.

Performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder by SBR, conducted by Mariss Jansons

Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a lurid tale of sex, murder, and corruption, premiered in 1934 and was a success until Stalin saw it two years later, resulting in a Pravda review that viciously condemned it. It was later replaced by an expurgated version, now called Katerina Ismailova after the work's principal character. The original version has now reclaimed its place on international stages. The heroine is the daughter-in-law of Boris, a greedy, lecherous merchant, and the frustrated wife of his impotent son. Katerina poisons Boris and when her husband returns she and her lover, Sergei, kill him too, burying him in the cellar. The body is discovered during their wedding party. Haunted by guilt, Katerina confesses and the newlyweds are consigned to Siberia. When Sergei takes up with another woman, Katerina pushes her into the river and then jumps in herself.

Wiener Philharmoniker, director Mariss Jansons

Mariss Jansons conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in the 2001 edition of the Europakonzert, filmed live at the Hagia Eirene in Istanbul on 1 May 2001. The program features Haydn’s Symphony No. 24 in G Major “Surprise”, Mozart’s Concerto No. 2 in D Major for Flute and Orchestra, and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14. Emmanuel Pahud is soloist on the Mozart.