Steeped in tradition, the Dresden Semperoper has welcomed many prestigious figures to its podium, from Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner to the current Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann. The Semperoper’s New Year’s Eve concert is a highlight of the holiday season and the perfect way for music-lovers to see out the Old Year and welcome the New. It’s become a much-loved part of the seasonal festivities, its popularity due in large part to the fact that Thielemann and his orchestra deliver a finely balanced mix of the festive and the nostalgic, with touches of downbeat Weltschmerz amid the whirling waltzes.

Join the audience on a dazzling journey from Berlin to Broadway, showcasing all the dynamism and drama of twentieth-century musical theatre: from kings of operetta Paul Abraham, Robert Stolz and Paul Lincke to masters of the musical Frederick Loewe, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein.

Thielemann steers a course between operetta classics such as Two Hearts in Waltz Time and Flower of Hawaii, and Broadway hits such as “Maria” and “Tonight” from West Side Story, stopping off along the way to perform numbers from less well-known works such as Gershwin’s Strike Up The Band, a satire in which the US declares war on Switzerland over the price of cheese!