2015 : Mehta / Vienna Philharmonic

Since 1939, the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert has become a tradition and the world's most famous classical music event. The list of names of leading conductors who have led the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concerts reads like a veritable who's who of great maestros: Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti to name a few. For the fifth time, world-renowned conductor Zubin Mehta returns to the podium for this extraordinary event. Maestro Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic share a long history together. In 1961 he conducted his first concert with the orchestra and in 2001, after forty years of artistic collaboration as the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, he was awarded an Honorary Membership in the Vienna Philharmonic. The Vienna New Year's Concert is unique and has often been imitated, but not equaled, with a live broadcast on television in over 80 countries around the world with over 40 million viewers. PBS aired the 2014 concert on over 181 stations and will broadcast the 2015 concert nationally. This year, for the first time, the repertoire has been announced prior to the concert and includes five pieces that have never before been performed at a New Year's Concert.