The New Year’s Day Concert in Vienna is a New Year’s Day tradition not unknown in the United States, for it has been broadcast annually on public television, at one time with the narration of the late veteran television broadcaster Walter Cronkite. Many readers will be surprised to learn, however, that this concert is recreated locally in grand style at Strathmore Music Center, so that we, too, have the opportunity to enjoy a Vienna New Year’s Day concert, all without a passport, visa, or even plane flight to the Austrian capital! The Strauss Symphony of America, conducted by genial and whimsical maestro Gregory Vajda, presented “Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert” at the Music Center at Strathmore on December 30. This American rendition of the Viennese Neujahrskonzert opened with the famous Overture to “William Tell ” by Gioachino Rossini, a piece many Americans will associate with the opening to the “Lone Ranger” TV program of yesteryear.
Fun skits by dancers of the Austria’s Europaballett clad in Austrian, German, and Hungarian national costumes played out easily among the elegant operetta melodies of Johann Strauss, Jr., and Franz Lehár. The dance performances ranged from ballroom to ballet and were given greater humor than a simple dance could convey by how the dancers used their actions to tell a story. One such story was that of two men and their rosy dance partners, the latter of whom pantomimed frustration at their male counterparts; the men were then obliged to make it up by dancing their way back to their women with roses hidden behind their backs. The performance also made use of playful humor in jokes by the charismatic maestro, who acted out the role as master of ceremonies.
Fans of Lehár’s opera “The Merry Widow” were rewarded with instrumental versions of “The Merry Widow Waltz” and “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim,” the latter in praise of the world-famous Maxim’s Paris restaurant. Lovers of Viennese operetta also heard favorite melodies sung. The flamboyant tenor Brian Cheney (introduced lightheartedly by Mr. Vajda as “a Viennese tenor from New York”) charmed and indeed enthralled the audience with his solo pieces of Lehár’s “Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert!” (Life Is Worth Living) from “Giuditta” and the same composer’s “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (once known widely in English-speaking countries as “You Are My Heart’s Delight”) from the operetta “The Land of Smiles.” Viennese soprano Sera Gösch also performed Lehár exquisitely, as in her melodic rendering of “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss.” from “Giuditta.” The two singers dueted wonderfully in pieces by Lehár and Emmerich Kálmán, another stellar composer in the world of Viennese operetta. The duet “Tanzen möcht’ ich” (I Would Like to Dance) from Kálmán’s “The Gypsy Princess” was especially lively and memorable.
Vocal and instrumental selections from Johann Strauss, Jr.’s “Die Fledermaus” were heard, appropriately enough, as that operetta’s plot revolves around antics taking place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Although never referenced in the program, Strauss’ “Blue Danube” waltz (de rigueur for a Viennese New Year’s Concert) was performed, with exquisite performances by the Champion Ballroom Dancers and, again, the Europaballett.
It is hoped that readers will be on the lookout for “Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert” when it appears again in Washington in late December 2024. Meanwhile, in the spirit of this wonderful concert, we wish all, as they say in Vienna, einen guten Rutsch—a “good slide”—into the New Year!
