From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2012, featuring the infectious melodies of the Strauss Family and contemporaries, will air live Sunday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) with an encore performance that evening at 7:30 p.m. (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the broadcast at 9 p.m.)

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The venerable concert is the largest world-wide event in classical music reaching over a billion people annually through radio and television in 72 countries. The Vienna Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s program has showcased Viennese musical culture at the highest level, and since the first television broadcast in 1959, sent the world a New Year’s greeting in the spirit of hope, friendship and peace. (The telecast has been a Great Performances tradition on PBS since 1985.)

Andrews is delighted to return to Vienna for what has become for her a most pleasurable tradition. “It is always a privilege and a wonderful spoiling to visit Vienna, especially at holiday time. The sights and sounds are glorious and I bask in the irresistible music all around me, particularly the beautiful Strauss waltzes.”

She has been a frequent and luminous presence on Great Performances, starting with “An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner” (1989); “Julie Andrews in Concert” (1990); “Some Enchanted Evening: Celebrating Oscar Hammerstein II” (1995); “Back on Broadway” which spotlighted her return to the Great White Way in “Victor/Victoria” (1995); “Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh” (1998); “My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies” (1999); its follow-up “My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs” (2001); and the restoration of the classic 1957 “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (2004). She also hosted the Emmy Award-winning series Broadway: The American Musical in 2004.

At press time, the musical program was scheduled to run as follows:

Joseph Hellmesberger Jun.
Danse Diabolique

Josef Strauss
Artists Greeting, French Polka, op. 274

Johann Strauss
Enjoy Life, Waltz, op. 340

Johann Strauss Sr.
Sperl Galopp, op. 42

Hans Christian Lumbye
Steam Railway, Galopp

Josef Strauss
Fireproof, French Polka, op. 269
(with The Vienna Boys’ Choir)

Eduard Strauss
Carmen Quadrille

Peter I. Tschaikowsky
Panorama from the Ballet “Sleeping Beauty”

Peter I. Tschaikowsky
Waltz from the Ballet “Sleeping Beauty”

Johann und Josef Strauss
Pizzicato Polka op. 25

Johann Strauss
Persian March, op. 289

Josef Strauss
Burning Love, Polka Mazurka, op. 129

Johann Strauss
Thunder and Lightning, Fast Polka, op. 324

Johann Strauss
Tick Tock, Fast Polka, op. 365

Johann Strauss
The Blue Danube Waltz, op. 314

Johann Strauss Sr.
Radetzky March, op. 228

As is customary with these broadcasts, Ms. Andrews will travel from her home base in the Musikverein hall itself to visit multiple picturesque Vienna landmarks: a steam railway for Lumbye’s “Steam Railway” gallop; the Belvedere Palace for the three ballet sequences, choreographed by Davide Bombana; and the Augarten Palais, home of The Vienna Boys’ Choir.

The Vienna Boys’ Choir is one of the oldest boys’ choirs existing in the world since 1498 when Maximilian I called the first dozen boys to the court as members of the newly formed court music band. Numerous vocalists, violinists, conductors, and pianists have sung in their ranks: Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Karl Zeller, Hans Richter, Lovro von Matacic and Clemens Krauss. In the days of the First Republic they were regarded as Austria’s “singing ambassadors.” Since those days the Vienna Boys’ Choir has given concerts under nearly all the great conductors of this century: Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti and Sir George Solti. And, every Sunday the Vienna Boys’ Choir sing solemn mass in Vienna’s Hofburg chapel, continuing a tradition unbroken since 1498.

Since the autumn of 2003, Mariss Jansons has been the principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and since September 2004 principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, therefore presiding over two of Europe’s most prestigious orchestras, both steeped in tradition.

From 1979 up to the year 2000, Jansons was music director of the Oslo Philharmonic, which during his tenure became an international orchestra of note. He was also involved with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic as permanent conductor from 1971 until 1999. In addition to that he also appeared as principal guest conductor for the London Philharmonic Orchestra between 1992 and 1997. From 1997 until 2004 he was Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Mariss Jansons has worked together with the world’s most important orchestras, guesting with great success for leading American and European orchestras.

Jansons first conducted the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2006.

On January 10, Sony Classical will release the live recording via CD-on-demand exclusively at Amazon.com and ArkivMusic and through all major digital service providers, followed by a nationwide CD release on January 24, and DVD and Blu-ray on February 7th.

Great Performances is funded by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, Vivian Milstein, Vera von Kuffner Eberstadt, The Starr Foundation and the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, public television viewers, and PBS. Exclusive corporate support for the concert is provided by Rolex.

From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration is directed by Karina Fibich, with John Walker as producer/writer. For Great Performances, John Walker and Cara Cosentino are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

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The concert in the Schönbrunn Palace’s magnificent baroque gardens is free to thousands of attendees in Vienna, and serves the Orchestra’s objective of making classical music accessible to a broad spectrum of concertgoers beyond its usual, core audience.

The musical program is as follows:

Franz Liszt – Les Prėludes
Fritz Kreisler - Concerto in One Movement after Paganini’s Violin Concerto op. 6
Modest Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition
Johann Strauss II – Vienna Spirit Waltz (encore), On the Banks of the Danube, Quick Polka

This is Gergiev’s second time leading the popular summer concert, and he’s part of a distinguished lineup that has included Bobby McFerrin, Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Georges Prêtres, Daniel Barenboim and Franz Welser-Möst.

Maestro Gergiev was born in Moscow and grew up in the Caucasus. He has been the artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg for many years, and has long enjoyed a warm relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Liszt’s Les Preludes is one of the 19th century composer and virtuoso pianist’s most famous orchestral works which he likened to the “series of preludes to that unknown hymn” (i.e. Death). Virtuoso violinist Paganini’s skill is mirrored in his Violin Concerto No. 1, the first movement of which is played by Austrian Benjamin Schmid on a 1731 Stradivarius.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition further embodies the evening’s “virtuoso pictures” theme. The 1874 work was composed in remembrance of an artist friend, and offers a musical tour through a gallery. The “pictures” are brought to life by the Vienna State Opera Ballet, choreographed by soloist dancer Gregor Hatala who also choreographs the dance accompanying audience favorite Wiener Blut.

Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night 201 is directed by Karina Fibich, with John Walker as producer. For Great Performances, John Walker and Cara Cosentino are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Irene Diamond Fund, The Starr Foundation, Vivian Milstein, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Joseph A. Wilson, Vera von Kuffner Eberstadt, public television viewers, and PBS. Exclusive corporate support for the concert is provided by Rolex.

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“What a joy to return to Vienna, which has always been a magical place for me,” Andrews says. “And to go at holiday time makes it very special indeed. You’ve never really heard The Blue Danube Waltz until you’ve heard it played by the very orchestra Strauss once led.”

Ms. Andrews carries on for longtime host Walter Cronkite, who relinquishes the post with this telecast. “Though ending this tradition comes with some sadness for me, I am very much looking forward to resuming the long-held custom of spending the holidays with my family and friends,” notes the venerable newsman, who hosted the first international telecast in 1985. “I am also deeply honored that Julie Andrews has been chosen to carry on what has become a holiday high point for millions across America.”

Mr. Barenboim and Ms. Andrews are both longtime Great Performances favorites. He last appeared on the series in 2007’s Barenboim on Beethoven, she in 2004 introducing her 1957 performance in a special digitally remastered encore of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. She also hosted the Emmy Award-winning series Broadway: The American Musical in 2004.

Musical highlights of From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2009 include Strauss Jr.’s Gypsy Baron Overture, Thunder and Lightning Polka and The Blue Danube Waltz, danced in the hall by children selected from the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera.

“Since we first presented this concert 25 years ago, we are proud and delighted it’s become a beloved broadcast tradition at holiday time,” says David Horn, Executive Producer of the telecast and Great Performances. “Needless to say, we look forward to the next 25 years of high spirits and irresistible melody.”

From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2009 is directed by Brian Large, with John Walker as producer/writer.

Major corporate funding for this telecast was provided by Rolex. Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Major funding for this telecast was also provided by The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund and Vera von Kuffner Eberstadt.

Photo: ORF/Ali Schafler

The intoxicating strains of Franz Lehar and other masters of the operetta and zarzuela stage dominate Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna, an icon-studded concert gala from the Imperial Park of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Summer Palace, this December on GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS (check local listings). Tenors Plácido Domingo and Rolando Villazón join soprano Anna Netrebko in the evening of highlights from such favorite works as The Merry Widow, Land of Smiles and El Gato Montes.

Presented by Thirteen/WNET New York in high definition, the broadcast is led by noted French conductor Bertrand de Billy, directing the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

From its opening vocal salvo, Domingo’s thrilling account of Lehar’s “Gern hab ich die Frau’n gekuesst” from Paganini, through Netrebko’s swirling Gypsy rendition of “Heia in den Bergen” (from Emmerich Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin) to Villazón’s heart-breaking “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (Lehar’s Land of Smiles), the program is a welcome reminder of the glittering lost world of operetta.

The genre (first cousin to the zarzuela of Spain) is a precursor to today’s modern musical and once dominated the world’s stages, thanks to “light music” composers like Lehar, Johann Strauss Jr., and Léo Delibes. Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna offers a rare opportunity to re-examine some of their gems. (A complete list of telecast selections accompanies this release.)

Recorded in the Austrian capital June 27, 2008, Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna is a co-production of ORF, ZDF and Unitel Classica, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. Heidelinde Haschek directs, with Heidelinde Rudy and Sandra Marchart as Producers.

GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.