Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2024

[Petrushka]

I recall reading about the "10-year rule" regarding conductors for the VPO's New Year's Concert. From a cross-check of the VPO's archive and the list of conductors post-Boskovsky and Maazel, here's a roster of the conductors since 1987, with the year of the VPO debut:

Karajan (1987), VPO debut = 1946
Abbado (1988, 1991), VPO debut = 1965
Carlos Kleiber (1989, 1992), VPO debut = 1974
Mehta (1990, 1995, 1998, 2007, 2015), VPO debut = 1961
Muti (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2018, 2021), VPO debut = 1971
Harnoncourt (2001, 2003), VPO debut = 1984
Ozawa (2002), VPO debut = 1966
Jansons (2006, 2012, 2016), VPO debut = 1992
Prêtre (2008, 2010), VPO debut = 1963
Barenboim (2009, 2014, 2022), VPO debut = 1965
Welser-Möst (2011, 2013, 2023), VPO debut = 1998
Dudamel (2017), VPO debut = 2007
Thielemann (2019, 2024) VPO debut = 2000
Nelsons (2020), VPO debut = 2010

So for the two youngest conductors on the list, El Dude and Nelsons, the "10-year rule" really does seem to apply.

Mirga has never conducted the VPO, although I agree with Barbirollians that she would be an excellent choice in general, but this is obviously not going to happen eny time soon, since she needs to make her subscription debut with them at some point. If the day does happen, then, I'll double-down on my going-out-on-a-limb prediction of Joana Mallwitz, if and when she eventually makes her subscription debut with the VPO at some point. (If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. We'll find out in a few decades or so.) JM has conducted the VPO in three seasons at the Salzburg Festival, which is a pretty substantial chance for them, or at least a select subset of the VPO, to get to know her and decide whether they like her or not. Of course, she's focusing on her new Konzerthausorchester Berlin post, where the hype has been pretty strong, AFAICT. Hopefully she keeps a level head about it all and doesn't flame out.

Thanks for doing the research so I didn't have to!

One or two notable names missing from those who certainly met the 10 year rule. Both Haitink and Rattle were, I think, approached but declined. I saw both of them conduct the VPO in Strauss as encores and I'm sure they would have been fine with doing the NYDC.

Bernstein was, I think, pencilled in to do this concert in 1991 or 1992, can't remember which, but the Grim Reaper intervened.

Perhaps we should be relieved that Gergiev, who would also have qualified, never did so and looks increasingly unlikely now.

I still nostalgically yearn for the Willi Boskovsky years to return but that's not going to happen either, alas!

2024 will be my 52nd NYDC.

[gurnemanz]

I still nostalgically yearn for the Willi Boskovsky years to return but that's not going to happen either, alas!

A great box set ... still around for a snip, I see, second hand.

[LHC]

I doubt if any woman has come anywhere near to fulfilling this criteria and I can't see it happening, to be honest.

Perhaps Marin Alsop could blag her way onto the podium - I'd certainly sign up for the ticket ballot if that were to happen!

Simone Young was the first woman to conduct an opera at the Vienna State Opera (in 1993) and was also the first to conduct a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic (three concerts in 2005) so she meets the 10 year rule at least. However, as she hasn't conducted them since, I'm not sure you can call it a 10-year relationship.

Emmanuelle Haim made her debut with them in 2016, but again appears not to have been invited back.

Speranza Scappucci made her debut with the Vienna State Opera in 2016, and in 2017 became the first female conductor to direct the Opera Orchestra in the annual Vienna Opera Ball (albeit as an emergency substitute for an indisposed Semyon Bychkov), but she is yet to conduct the VPO itself.

Apart from them and Mirga, I can't find any other female conductors who have conducted the VPO. As far as I can see, Marin Alsop has yet to make her debut with the VPO, so you'll have a long wait for her to be asked to do a NYD concert.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks for doing the research so I didn't have to!

One or two notable names missing from those who certainly met the 10 year rule. Both Haitink and Rattle were, I think, approached but declined. I saw both of them conduct the VPO in Strauss as encores and I'm sure they would have been fine with doing the NYDC.

Bernstein was, I think, pencilled in to do this concert in 1991 or 1992, can't remember which, but the Grim Reaper intervened.

Perhaps we should be relieved that Gergiev, who would also have qualified, never did so and looks increasingly unlikely now.

I still nostalgically yearn for the Willi Boskovsky years to return but that's not going to happen either, alas!

2024 will be my 52nd NYDC.

I wonder if Bernstein would have taken the same approach in the New Year’s Day conduct as he did with his conducting of the prelude to Act 3 of (Richard ) Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at the Vienna State Opera. He just gave a downbeat and let them get on with it. Given the number of cues in it the orchestra must have known it by heart. It’s such a flurry of notes bar counting must be well high impossible.

[Barbirollians]

Gosh this is rather dull so far . Thielemann just strikes me as too stiff for this music.

[Barbirollians]

Mirga is due to conduct a Weinberg opera with them at the Salzburg Festival this summer - has she conducted them before ?

[kernelbogey]

The interval tv feature on Bruckner is pretty bizarre even by ORF standards. The lady playing an organ without pipes on a barge in a lake had a touch of Python to it.

[Barbirollians]

Very odd

[pastoralguy]

Yes, it’s very odd indeed but quite entertaining.

[pastoralguy]

The director is obviously quite enamoured with the lady piccolo player!

[Andrew353w]

I'm watching this on BBC2 at the moment and it's fantastic! It's also on Radio 3, so I'll be able to listen again via BBC Sounds-what an excellent start to the New Year!

[pastoralguy]

Oh dear. Now the bloody ballet dancers…!

[kernelbogey]

Oh dear. Now the bloody ballet dancers…!

I thought the choreography quite poor.

[Barbirollians]

I'm watching this on BBC2 at the moment and it's fantastic! It's also on Radio 3, so I'll be able to listen again via BBC Sounds-what an excellent start to the New Year!

To each their own - it sounds very routine to my ears . Now where did I put that Carlos Kleiber CD …

[Prommer]

Better than his 2019 performance, and I speak as a fan of Thielemann’s. But he should have gripped the rep a bit more firmly, as they turn up some surefire duds every year. When one thinks of what could be played!