In a January 29 holiday performance so joyful that it would only disappoint the Grinch, the Salute to Vienna New Years Concert at Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda brought sheer magic to its audience of all ages. The concert was an interactive medley of New Years classics, with everything from Viennese waltzes to polkas to operetta arias to the traditional New Year’s anthem “Auld Lang Syne.”
As Quinn Sarracco, Front-of-House Manager at Strathmore, explained, the annual Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert at Strathmore imitates that of the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna, Austria. The Strathmore version features European ballet, operetta, and conducting stars, with a talented orchestra made up largely of musicians from the Philadelphia area.
Particularly engaging in this performance was the flamboyant conductor of the orchestra András Deák, who was as much a master of ceremonies as a traditional conductor of a symphonic orchestra, although the maestro conducted the orchestra with great prowess. In addition to his superb direction of Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss, Jr., such as the “Schatz Waltzes” (Schatz being German for “treasure”) and “The Blue Danube Waltz” (the latter a must in any Vienna New Year’s Concert), he engaged the audience by “conducting” their rhythmic claps in Mozart’s “Turkish March” to himself leaving the podium to lead a “train” of orchestra members across the stage in the “Bahn frei Polka.” (Bahn frei is German for “train track clear!”)
Singers scheduled for the festivities were Franz Gürtelschmied and Jennifer Davison. They dueted beautifully in “Komm mit nach Varaždin” (“Come with us to Varaždin”) from Emmerich Kálmán’s operetta “Countess Maritza” as well as in the “Champagne Finale” from Johann Strauss, Jr.’s New Year’s Eve-themed operetta “Die Fledermaus.” The tenor performed a moving “Als flotter Geist” (“As a Brisk Spirit”) from Strauss, Jr.’s, “The Gypsy Baron” while the standout soprano performance was “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss“ (translated by Maestro Deák as “My Lips which Kiss with Fire”) from Franz Lehár’s musical comedy “Giuditta.” Dancers from the Budapest Ballet and International Champion Ballroom Dancers were on hand, performing elegant Viennese waltzes as well as polkas and even comic numbers and acrobatics in traditional Central European national dress.
For many attendees at the North American incarnation of the Vienna’s New Year’s Concert (similar performances are staged by Attila Glatz Concert Productions in other major cities of the U.S. and Canada), the performance brought back wonderful memories for many of enjoying the annual televised Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Day Concert, this year conducted by Riccardo Muti and to be telecast on PBS stations. Yet the event had a broad appeal beyond die-hard Vienna New Year enthusiasts, for the lilting melodies, infectious performances, wonderful costumes, and on-stage flowers and Christmas trees provided a festive holiday experience for all and an agreeable “slide into the New Year,” to adopt an expression common in Austria and Germany. Readers are recommended to watch for the Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert next December!
