INTERVIEW: New Year’s means it’s time for the annual ‘Salute to Vienna’
For decades, New Year’s Day and Vienna have been inextricably tied together thanks to the tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasting its annual concert to millions across the globe. Audience members can enjoy the spirit of this tradition with the Salute to Vienna tour that is currently making its way through the United States and Canada. Concertgoers will have the chance to hear music from a local orchestra, soak in lovely arias from a group of soloists and see ballroom dances set to famous waltzes.
Salute to Vienna plays a number of cities, including the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Dec. 31 at 6 p.m.
“We are so busy,” said Marion Glatz, executive producer of the show. “We do not sleep anymore. We are like cats at night. … With 25 concerts and all the logistics involved, it’s quite a big deal, but we love what we are doing.”
Glatz explained that the New Year’s tradition of a Viennese concert dates back to 1941 and the Vienna Philharmonic. Every year since those World War II years, the concert has been broadcast to people and countries across the world. That same tradition is what inspires Salute to Vienna, which is separate from the Vienna Philharmonic festivities.
“It’s a live concert with a full orchestra with singers and dancers with the traditional ballet plus ballroom dancers,” she said. “We grew up with this concert. We watched it in the beginning. We listened [on the] radio station, and then we watched it via television from Vienna. It gives such an uplifting effect to all of us. We talked to our family at that time, and we said, ‘Oh, the New Year is coming. And there all these problems, and I don’t know if we can overcome this mountain and that mountain and that mountain.’ And all of a sudden the music came on — the waltzes, the marches, The Blue Danube from Johann Strauss [II], all these wonderful melodies. And then we started dancing around the dining room table, and we opened this bottle of Champagne. And we said, ‘Mom, Dad, it’s going to be a good year.’”
The concert is intended to take away audience members’ worries and prepare them for a healthy and better New Year. Glatz called the event a “statement” and “celebration of life.” On display will be feats for the senses that include ballet dancers in ornate costumes, ballroom dancers in equally striking costumes and 18 pieces of operatic music.
“The audience is sitting there,” she said. “They’re smiling, and they say, ‘I love this. I remember that, and it is so uplifting and so happy.’ It is a happy concert, a happy light classical show for the whole family, and children love it — any age group. It is something very, very special.”
The results of Glatz and her team’s hard work are obvious on stage; however, audience members may not realize how difficult it is to pull together the logistics of the Salute to Vienna tour, which also has stops in New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
“It is extremely difficult,” she said. “We are bringing every year over 120 artists — conductors, singers, dancers — to America, and we’re engaging 1,500 musicians. This is always the symphonies in the [local] city, and the logistics and the programming, it’s not easy to achieve. We do this now for quite a number of years, and we know where the problem zones are. Sometimes we have problems that a singer is not able to sing if he’s sick, so we have to find a replacement. And then sometimes there’s a flight problem. Always a problem, but the show must go on.”
The New Brunswick show will be doubly special because it takes place on New Year’s Eve, and Glatz promised that audience members will feel the energy of 2018 as they take in the 6 p.m. show. It will be a time to forget worries and listen to world-renowned singers.
“We have beautiful artists,” she said. “We have a fantastic conductor [Bernard Schneider] from Vienna. He started in Vienna. He talks to the audience. He tells little stories, funny stories about the era of the music.”
The soprano for the evening will be Micaëla Oeste from Berlin. Glatz said the singer, who tours with Plácido Domingo, has a “crystalline voice.” The tenor is Tilmann Unger from Munich, Germany. Unger was actually with Salute to Vienna during its live taping a few years back for PBS. That concert has broadcast more than 1,400 times on the network, Glatz said.
The orchestra for the performance will be the Strauss Symphony of America, and the dancers come from the Kiev-Aniko Ballet of Ukraine.
“Beautiful production, absolutely stunning costumes, and these dancers, you have a feeling that they’re not dancing,” the executive producer said. “They’re like feathers. It’s so beautiful, absolutely fantastic, and then we have the international champion ballroom dancers. This is a feature we added seven years ago, and it is wonderful to see [them] … dancing The Blue Danube waltz. Some of them go in the aisle and dance. It’s a happy, happy concert.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Salute to Vienna is currently touring the United States and Canada. They will stop Dec. 31 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
