Sony Classical Releases The 2018 New Year's Concert With The Vienna Philharmonic & Riccardo Muti

NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Classical is pleased to announce the release of the recording of one of the world's most famous classical music events: the 2018 New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of renowned conductor Riccardo Muti. The live recording is available digitally and on CD January 5, 2018. The DVD and Blu-ray will be available March 9.

Few concerts can claim to generate such tremendous international interest as the New Year's Concert from Vienna. Under the baton of the world's leading conductors, the Vienna Philharmonic rings in the New Year with a gala concert from the magnificent setting of the Golden Hall in Vienna's Musikverein. The event is broadcast to over 90 countries all over the world and watched by more than 50 million viewers.

In 2018, Riccardo Muti will conduct the prestigious New Year's concert for the 5^th time (1993, 1997, 2000 and 2004). Together with Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti is one of the most engaged New Year's Concert conductors since the era of Lorin Maazel. The conductor's close artistic relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra celebrates 47 years, 500 concerts and dates back to 1971. In 2011, this exceptional bond was awarded with the Honorary Membership in the Vienna Philharmonic.

Riccardo Muti
Born in Naples 1941, Riccardo Muti has conducted the most important orchestras in the world.
Over the course of his extraordinary career they range from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, from the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestre National de France, as well as, the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra to which he is linked by particularly close and important ties, and with which he has appeared at the Salzburg Festival since 1971.

When Muti was invited to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic's 150th anniversary concert, he was presented with the Golden Ring by the orchestra, a special sign of esteem and affection, awarded only to a few select conductors. In September 2010, Riccardo Muti became Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and he was named 2010 Musician of the Year by Musical America.

Riccardo Muti has received innumerable international honors during his career. He is Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Italian Republic and a recipient of the German Verdienstkreuz, he received the decoration of Officer of the Legion of Honor from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and was made an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in Britain. The Salzburg Mozarteum awarded him its silver medal for his contribution to Mozart's music, and in Vienna he was elected an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and the Vienna State Opera.

In 2011, Riccardo Muti was awarded two Grammy Awards, was selected as the recipient of the coveted Birgit Nilsson Prize, received the Opera News Award in New York and was awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts. He was named an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic and in August 2011 an honorary director for life at the Rome Opera. In May 2012, he was awarded the highest Papal honor: the Knight of the Grand Cross First Class of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2016 he was honored by Japanese Government with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.

The Vienna Philharmonic goes back to 1842, when Otto Nicolai conducted a "Grand Concert" with the members of the imperial court opera. This event is regarded as the origin of the orchestra. Since its founding, the orchestra has been managed by a democratically elected administrative committee and works with artistic, organisational and financial autonomy. In the 20th century, the Vienna Philharmonic had important artistic collaborations with Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwängler and with honorary members Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein. The orchestra has performed approximately 8,000 concerts on all continents since its creation, and has presented Vienna Philharmonic Weeks in New York since 1989 and in Japan since 1993.The tradition of the New Year's Concert dates back to 1941. The first concert to mark the New Year took place in 1939, but on that occasion it was given on December 31^st. Its first conductor was Clemens Krauss, who was followed in 1955 by Willi Boskovsky. Boskovsky conducted the New Year's Concert no fewer than twenty-five times between then and 1979. The list of conductors who have presided over a New Year's Concert reads like a Who's Who of leading maestros. The New Year's Concert was first televised live in 1959. The Vienna Philharmonic regards the New Year's Concert as a musical greeting to the world that is offered in a spirit of hope, of friendship and of peace at the start of the New Year. The recordings of the New Year's Concert are among the most important releases on the classical market. Sony Classical is keen to ensure that the New Year's Concert is available to a broad, international public.

2018 New Year's Concert: List of Works
Johann Strauß II: Der Zigeunerbaron: Einzugsmarsch
The Gypsy Baron: Entrance March

Josef Strauß: Wiener Fresken op. 249*
Viennese Frescoes

Johann Strauß II: Brautschau op. 417*
Bridal Parade

Johann Strauß II: Leichtes Blut op. 319
Light of Heart

Johann Strauß I: Marienwalzer op. 212*
Maria Waltz

Johann Strauß I: Wilhelm Tell Galopp op. 29b*

Franz von Suppé: Boccaccio Overture*

Johann Strauß II: Myrthenblüten op. 395*
Myrtle Flowers

Alphons Czibulka: Stephanie-Gavotte op. 312*

Johann Strauß II: Freikugeln op. 326
Magic Bullets

Johann Strauß II: Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald op. 325
Tales from the Vienna Woods

Johann Strauß II: Festmarsch op. 452
Festival March

Johann Strauß II: Stadt und Land op. 322
Town and Country

Johann Strauß II: Un ballo in maschera op. 272
Ein Maskenball · A Masked Ball

Johann Strauß II: Rosen aus dem Süden op. 388
Roses from the South

Josef Strauß: Eingesendet op. 240
Letter to the Editor

* First performance at a Vienna New Year's Concert

Media Contacts:
Sony Music Masterworks: Angela Barkan / Larissa Slezak,
angela.barkan@sonymusic.com; Larissa.Slezak@sonymusic.com  212-833-8575 / 6075

Christina Jensen PR
646.536.7864, christina@christinajensenpr.com

SOURCE Sony Classical