Vienna’s virtual New Year’s Concert survives lockdown restrictions to bring classical music lovers some joy
- Organisers say it would be ‘impossible’ for the event not to go ahead; the musicians, conducted by Italian Riccardo Muti, will perform to an empty hall
- To break the silence, public broadcaster ORF will play in applause from 7,000 music lovers watching from home online
While a virus-laden silence has descended over what is normally a busy period of concerts and balls in the Austrian capital, Vienna, the city’s New Year Concert on New Year’s Day provides a saving grace – even if they are playing to an empty hall.
Vienna’s concert halls were among the first in Europe to reopen in June, in the wake of the first-wave lockdown, as the city tried to preserve its reputation as one of the world’s pre-eminent centres of classical music.
But as the virus took hold again in the autumn, fresh restrictions soon followed. Music venues again had to close in November, in a city that normally boasts some 15,000 concerts and musical events annually. But one show will go on, no doubt charged with more symbolism this year.
“If we cancel the New Year’s Concert, that would be such a horrible sign to the entire world,” Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra chairman Daniel Froschauer said at the end of October when rising infection numbers were forcing Vienna’s cultural world to prepare for a new phase of restrictions.
In December, even after venues had been forced to close, Froschauer said it would be “impossible” not to go ahead – and his view has prevailed.