The music is mostly that of the Strauss family. The flowers that decorate the Wiener Musikverein concert hall are a gift each year from the city of San Remo, Liguria, Italy.
The concert always ends with several encores after the main programme. The musicians then collectively wish the audience a happy new year, and close with Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube Waltz followed by the Radetzky-March. During this last piece, the audience claps along in time and the conductor turns to conduct them instead of the orchestra.
The concert was first performed in 1939 (paradoxically on December 31st of this year) conducted by Clemens Krauss.
Well known conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel and Nikolaus Harnoncourt have already led the concert.