New Year's Concert 2026 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin
The 2026 Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert takes place January 1, 2026, for the first time under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna.
The New Year's Concert is broadcast worldwide in over 150 countries via TV and stream and is watched by around 50 million viewers.
The Programme of the New Year's Concert 2026
New Year's Concert 2026 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Musikverein, Golden Hall, Vienna, Austria
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Internationally acclaimed conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York since 2018, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012, and for 25 years Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montréal. From 2008 to 2018, he was Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, where he was appointed Conductor Laureate. He is also an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Vienna Philharmonic
Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2010 at the Mozart Week in Salzburg. Since that time, he has regularly conducted the orchestra in Vienna and Salzburg, and on tour. One special highlight was the Summer Night Concert 2023 under his baton. On 1 January 2026, he will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert for the first time.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin as a Guest Conductor
As a guest conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin also works with many leading European orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted concerts at the Salzburg Festival and at many European festivals, including Edinburgh, Lucerne and the BBC Proms in London. In the summer, he conducted in North America at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, in Lanaudière, Vail and Saratoga, among other venues. As an acclaimed opera conductor, he has appeared at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Dutch Opera and the Salzburg Festival.
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Musical Highlights and Education
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is committed to expanding the classical symphonic and operatic repertoire, including rarely performed works by composers such as Florence Price, Clara Schumann, William Dawson and William Grant Still. He is equally dedicated to contemporary composers. Through his conducting academies at Domaine Forget and Montréal, he also provides a platform for the next generation of conductors, whose graduates now work in major orchestras around the world.
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Awards
Born in Montréal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied piano, conducting and composition at the Conservatoire de Montréal. He has received numerous honors, including four GRAMMY Awards. He was named Musical America's 2016 Artist of the Year and has been awarded the Order of Canada and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. With his artistic work and his commitment to the highest musical quality, Yannick Nézet-Séguin inspires audiences and musicians around the world.
For more information on Yannick Nézet-Séguin visit: yannicknezetseguin.com
Philharmonic Version of the Radetzky March
Johann Strauß' Radetzky March, op. 228, was first performed in a Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert on January 1, 1946. Josef Krips was the conductor, and according to a note in the Vienna Philharmonic archives, the march was performed before the Blue Danube Waltz as a first encore.
Floral Decorations by Vienna Parks and Gardens
When Yannick Nézet-Séguin raises his baton for the New Year's Concert on January 1, 2026, it will mark the third time that he has conducted this prestigious concert. The partnership between the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna City Gardens for the floral arrangements throughout the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, has been in place since 2015.
Once again this year, to the delight of television viewers around the world, the Vienna City Gardens, along with the Austrian gardeners and florists, will produce the arrangements which light up the Golden Hall in a resplendent sea of blossoming floral color.
