New Year Celebrations

Around New Year, Austria becomes the place to be.

For changing the dateline in style, no other city beats Vienna. The last days of the year become a whirl of concerts and entertainment. While the Vienna Symphony traditionally performs Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the Vienna Philharmonic is playing a selection of waltzes, polkas and operetta tunes, and its festive New Year's Day concert is a big social event (tickets are obtainable only through a miracle, but there are several concerts by other orchestras that offer the same kind of music and are more easily accessible).

This great event is broadcast every year on the PBS network and hosted by Walter Cronkite. On both evenings, the State Opera and the Volksoper give gala performances of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus. And, if you got the tickets well in advance, you can toast the turn of the year at the Imperial Ball in the highest style imaginable, the New Year's Eve Imperial Ball. Vienna also turns the inner city into one big celebration. Starting at 2 pm on December 31 until 2 am on January 1 enjoy concerts on the streets of Vienna. Dance to the everpresent sound of the waltz and experience the fireworks. Vienna offers grand celebrations for everybody.

All throughout Austria you will experience fire works, Innsbruck for example has brass band parades and evening fanfares in the Old Town at New Year's; Graz and other smaller cities also stage a string of events to celebrate.