Who else but the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic could perform at the concert that would conclude 2025 and usher us into the next? Celebrating its eightieth anniversary, the orchestra is preparing something special for this special evening, symbolising the end of the old and the beginning of the new. The programme will include dances composed by members of the Strauss family, as well as songs and excerpts from various operas. We will hear wonderful singers – Mojca Erdmann, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Matthias Goerne, conducted by Ruben Gazarian.

The transition to the New Year has been celebrated since ancient times, and already then it was combined with lavish celebrations and the offering of gifts to ensure the prosperity of what was to come. Yet the new year celebrations in the ancient era fell on a different date. The festivities we still observe today began with the introduction of the Julian calendar at the behest of Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. The name of 31 December derives from Pope Sylvester I, who is commemorated on this day in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. His death on December 31 became a symbol of the end of an era. With the popularisation of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, the last day of the year gained special significance as a moment of reflection on the passing of time and anticipation of a new beginning. The NFM tradition is to adorn this moment with music.

During the concert, we will hear works by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. We will also hear works by Richard Strauss, a great German composer, unrelated to the Viennese dynasty. Although best known today as a master of opera and symphonic poems, he also composed songs. The key to their choice for this night is the timeless theme of love. This same motif can be found in Franz Schubert’s song An Sylvia. The Austrian artist has given musical form to the German translation of Shakespeare’s early comedy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a study in the conflict between the passions of the heart and friendship. In the second part of the evening, we will travel to Sicily, listening to an aria from Pietro Mascagni’s most famous opera, Cavalleria rusticana – a hallmark of verismo. Shortly afterward, we will return to Vienna again with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s aria Alma grande. It was composed for the opera I due baroni di Rocca Azzurra by Domenico Cimarosa, an Italian admired by Mozart, that was being performed at that time in the Austrian capital. The programme will be complemented by gems of French opera. The first will be the popular aria Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix from Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila. The second performance will feature the most famous excerpt from Charles Gounod’s Sapho, Ô ma lyre immortelle – the moving final statement of the titular poet just before her suicidal plunge into the sea.