It has long been a Philharmonic New Year's Day tradition to present a program consisting of the
lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss
family and their contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audience in the Wiener
Musikverein but also enjoy great international popularity through the worldwide television
broadcasts which now reach over 50 countries. The concert was conducted by Seiji Ozawa for the
first time in 2002 and the light-hearted nature of the event finds this always engaging
conductor at his most impishly playful.
