The Vienna New Year's Concert 2022 takes place

Vienna, January 1 (Xinhua) -- The 2022 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra New Year's Concert was held in the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, on january 1, and thousands of spectators watched the visual feast on the spot.

On 1 January, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed at the New Year's Concert at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Dieter Nag)

Affected by the new crown epidemic, last year's Vienna New Year's Concert was held for the first time without a live audience, and this year's New Year's Concert is still not fully open to the audience, only 1,000 spectators can enter the Musikverein under the premise of strictly abiding by the epidemic prevention regulations. According to the epidemic prevention regulations, they must hold a new crown vaccination certificate or a new crown infection recovery certificate, as well as the latest negative new crown virus nucleic acid test certificate, and wear a mask with a higher level of protection throughout the whole process.

This year's New Year's Concert was conducted by renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim. It was the 79-year-old Barenboim's third time conducting a Vienna New Year's Concert since 2009 and 2014. In his traditional New Year's address to the concert, he said the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra hosts New Year's concerts every year, but this year's concerts are "more important". Covid-19 is a "disaster" and the concert brings "humanity and solidarity" into people's daily lives.

The repertoire of this year's Vienna New Year's Concert is still dominated by works by members of the Strauss family, with six tracks performed at the New Year's Concert for the first time.

On December 31, 1939, the First New Year's Concert was held in Vienna's Musikverein, and from 1941 onwards it was held on the morning of January 1 every year. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation began televising live music in 1959 and this year broadcast it to more than 90 countries and regions and to the world via the Internet.