Since 1975/1976 it has been a tradition to perform Beethoven’s Ninth at the Vienna Konzerthaus at the turn of the year. In 2024, the important work was 200 years old; according to the concert hall’s archive database, it was played there for the 250th time on New Year’s Eve. And while music by a female composer made it into the program for the first time at the New Year’s Concert next door, the Vienna Symphony’s principal guest conductor, Marie Jacquot, was the “first woman ever to conduct this standard work” on Lothringerstrasse. The reliable quality of the sometimes somewhat underestimated orchestra – alongside the solid, homogeneous Vienna Singing Academy as always! – and the enthusiasm of the audience is as predictable every year as Pummerin and the Danube Waltz.
