Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Concerts

The EBU has a 5-year distribution agreement with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra running until 2027, under which it acquired TV and radio broadcast rights for a package of three classical concerts per year. Dozens of EBU Members subscribe to this package. More than double that number outside the EBU area also broadcast the annual New Year's Day Concert.

New Year's Day Concert

Broadcast live from the ornate Musikverein concert hall in Vienna, the New Year’s Day Concert is one of the most sought-after TV properties in the world. Hosted by the EBU's Austrian Member ORF, the concert achieves staggering market shares of over 40% in several countries and reaches over 40 million television viewers around the world via the Eurovision satellite network. 

The orchestra performs a different musical programme every year with works from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries under the baton of the world’s most prestigious conductors.

The New Year's Concert 2023 took place under the musical direction of Franz Welser-Möst, who conducted this prestigious concert for the third time after 2011 and 2013. Read our interview with him.

The 2024 Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert will take place on 1 January 2024, under the baton of Christian Thielemann in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. The concert's end credit list can be downloaded here.

You can find the 2024 Broadcaster Circular here (English) and here (German) [updated 30.12.2023], and the information booklet here (English) and here (German).

More details about this year's event are available here.

Make sure to read our special notice [updated 30.12.2023].

You can also take a look at the 2024 additional programme information documents below:

• 2024 NYC Music Cue Sheet (.XLS)
• 2024 NYC Music Cue Sheet of Intermission Film (.XLS)

Summer Night Concert

The second concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra package is the annual Summer Night Concert, an outdoor production from the gardens of Vienna’s picturesque Schönbrunn Castle broadcast to several million TV viewers. Like the New Year’s Day concert, TV production is by Austrian EBU member ORF, and the concert is carried to audiences around the world via the Eurovision satellite network.

The 2024 concert will take place on Friday 7 June 2024. You can find the 2024 Broadcaster Circular here (English) and here (German). You also can see the Music Cue Sheet here (.xlsx file).

Download the programme information booklet produced by ORF with useful background information for the concert here (English) and here (German).

More information about the end credits is available here.

More details on the Vienna Philharmonic are available on their dedicated website.

Special Concert

Each year, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs a special concert in various iconic locations worldwide. Previous venues have included Versailles in Paris, Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, and the Rudolfinum in Prague, with the latter being produced by Czech Television.

For the first time in its history, the 2024 EBU-VPO Special Concert will be hosted at the Waldbühne Berlin, conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti.

Titled "A European Night," the event will showcase selected works by European composers to celebrate the Year of Europe 2024. The program will feature some of European music history's most exquisite compositions, including Giuseppe Verdi's overture to "La Forza del Destino," Manuel de Falla’s ballet suite “El sombrero de tres picos,” and Emmanuel Chabrier’s rhapsody “España.”

Please note that while the concert is scheduled for 9 May 2024, it will not be broadcast live. Instead, it will be distributed by satellite via the Eurovision Network for delayed broadcasting on Thursday, 16 May 2024, at 16:00 CEST (14:00 GMT).

You can find this year’s Special Concert Broadcaster Circular here (English).

Please take a look at the end credits list and music cue sheet.

More details on the Special Concert 2024 are available on their dedicated website.