The Großer Festsaal of the Musikverein is the venue for the world famous New Year's Day Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the concert was first held in 1939, it has grown into one of the most renowned concerts in the world, enjoying a comparable reputation to say the Last Night of the Proms among classical music fans. The programme of the concert is dominated by pieces by the various composers from the Strauss family, with the Blue Danube Waltz (An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 to be more correct) by Johann Strauss Jr. and the Radetzky March (Radetzkymarsch Op. 228) by Johann Strauss Sr. being nearly ever-present in the programme. Other Austrian composers also feature frequently, particularly if the New Year sees a special anniversary of some event in their life. In 2009, for example Haydn was included in the programme for the first time. Since 1987 there has been a different conductor every year, with some of the world's leading conductors having conducted the concert in recent years. There are now also increasingly frequently invited guest soloists.

Full details of the programme for the 2012 concert can be found on the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's website at: http://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/index.php?set_language=en&cccpage=news_detail&set_z_news=841

Tickets to the concert have become exceptionally difficult to get hold of – to have a chance of a ticket for the concert, it is necessary to preregister a year in advance to get into the draw for tickets for the following year (the window for registrations is approximately three weeks long) – and that is only for the few tickets that are not reserved, so any delusions of turning up on the day for a Stehplatz can be quickly kicked to touch! However, fortunately the television and radio coverage of the Concert allows you to at least enjoy this quintessentially Austrian event. The concert goes out live on ORF2 at 11:15am (http://tv.orf.at/program/orf2/20120101/). Even if you are not the world's most passionate classical music fan, the programme is a very uplifting way to start the year, and makes a very good accompaniment to a New Year's Day brunch. The concert has also become a bestseller on DVD or CD – every year it is released very shortly after the concert, and very widely available all all good stockists as well as on the Internet and makes a very acceptable gift and souvenir from Austria for family members and friends alike.