The New Year’s Concert live from Vienna is one of the world’s most famous and spectacular classical music events. It is broadcasted on TV and radio and reaches over 90 countries around the world with more than 50 million viewers. The Vienna Philharmonic regards this now traditional event as a way of wishing the world a Happy New Year through the medium of music in a spirit of hope, friendship, and peace.

Recordings of the New Year’s Concerts are among the most important titles on the classical music market, and Sony Classical is keen to make this release available to the widest possible international audience. The live recording of the 2023 New Year’s Concert is now available as a double-CD.

This year the prestigious concert is conducted by Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst. He has already appeared twice on the podium for the New Year's Concert (2011 and 2013) and one time on the podium of the Summer Night’s Concert (2010).

For 20 years, Franz Welser-Möst has shaped an unmistakable sound culture as Musical Director of the Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership, the orchestra has been repeatedly praised by international critics for its musical excellence. Franz Welser-Möst has been the recipient of a number of major honours and awards. He is an Honorary Member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, winner of the Vienna Philharmonic's Honorary Ring, and has been awarded the Kilenyi Medal of the Bruckner Society of America as well as the Kennedy Center Gold Medal in the Arts.

The annual New Year's Day Concert in Vienna has been a major event for more than eight decades, since 1939. It’s been conducted by world-famous maestros such as Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Gustavo Dudamel and Christian Thielemann.