Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews returns for the fourth time to host the festive annual New Year’s celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic, under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst from Vienna’s Musikverein. This is Welser-Möst’s second time at the podium of this much cherished event; the last was 2011.
From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2013, featuring the infectious melodies of the Strauss Family and contemporaries, will air live on Great Performances, Tuesday, January 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) with an encore performance that evening at 8 p.m.
Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.
The venerable concert is the largest worldwide 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 public television tradition on PBS since 1985.)
The opportunity of Andrews celebrating New Years in Vienna has become a most pleasurable tradition. “I’m so delighted to return to Vienna at this magical time of year. This enchanting city never ceases to take my breath away with its fairytale beauty and grace and history. The Strauss waltzes provide a most delectable soundtrack to the visual delights that surround me there.”
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. Andrews will soon be featured in the celebration of Great Performances’ 40th anniversary, currently planned to air in spring/summer 2013.
Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, Vivian Milstein, Vera von Kuffner Eberstadt, The Starr Foundation, The Agnes Varis Trust, 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 2013 is produced by Heidelinde Rudy, and directed by Karina Fibich, with John Walker as producer/writer. For Great Performances, John Walker and Richard R. Schilling are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.
