New Year's Concert 2010 under Georges Prêtre

The Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2010 will be conducted for the second time by the French conductor Georges Prêtre. Philharmonic Chairman Clemens Hellsberg stated that the decision was made "in recognition of our many years of collaboration and Prêtre's extensive experience with this genre." The success of Prêtre's debut at the New Year's Concert 2008 "was for both conductor and orchestra very gratifying."

Georges Prêtre has been honored several times for his artistic achievements in his home country and also in Austria. In 2004 he was named a Commander of the French Foreign Legion and in the same year was awarded the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and the Arts, 1st Class.

Since 1987 the conductors of the New Year's Concert have alternated yearly. Herbert von Karajan conducted in 1987, followed by Claudio Abbado (1988 and 1991), Carlos Kleiber (1989 and 1992), Zubin Mehta (1990, 1995, 1998, 2007), Riccardo Muti (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004), Lorin Maazel (1994, 1996, 1999, 2005), Seiji Ozawa (2002), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (2001, 2003), Mariss Jansons (2006), Georges Prêtre (2008) and Daniel Barenboim (2009). In 2010 Prêtre returns to the podium of the New Year's Concert for the second time.

End of Registration Period for the Drawing of Tickets for the New Year's Concert 2010
The registration period for participation in the drawing of tickets for the end of year concerts 2009/2010 has now ended, and no more registrations can be accepted. The drawing will be held within the next weeks and all participants will be informed of the results in March 2009.