New Year's Concert 2008 / Pretre, Wien Phil.

The New Year's Concert in Vienna has been a glorious tradition for over six decades. A best-selling classical event, the concert has a unique global appeal. It has been broadcast on TV and radio to over 50 countries, and is viewed by tens of millions of people all over the world. The 2008 New Year's Day Concert will be conducted by the eminent conductor Georges Prêtre, the first French conductor to receive this honor. The concert program for January 1, 2008 will be the customary collection of Strauss delights, but this time with a French theme. Receiving its first performance at a New Year's Concert, Napoleon March op. 156 by Johann Strauss II will open the program. The traditional encores of Blue Danube Waltz and Radetzky March will be joined by the Sport Polka as a nod to the European Football Championship to be held in Vienna in 2008. The Summer Olympics in Beijing is also being saluted by the orchestra with an early work of the elder Johann Strauss, his exotically colored Chinese Gallop.