Five Highlights from our 2026 Season

Each of our Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert casts and cities bring their own special nuance to the experience. While we feel parental-level pride in all our of performers and performances across the continent, each season inevitably provides a few surprises of the pleasant variety.

Here are a few notable moments that will stick in our memories as we look back at our 30^th Anniversary season.

1. Double Feature 

A treat not just for audiences but for our soprano’s family tree, Rebecca Nelson was joined on stage by her talented twin sister Michelle in Washington, New Brunswick, and New York City. To make this reunion all the more special, the duo’s dad was in the audience at New York’s David Geffen Hall to watch his daughter duet sing together at Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert for the first time since 2012. Now if we could only find a second Weinhappel baritone all would be even!

2. Florida Five

This season’s addition of a concert stop in Orlando meant a Floridian feat, with our Sunshine State cast performing a record five concerts in seven days. The final concert of the 2026 season was held January 3rd in Orlando with a generous standing ovation marking a successful stint in the city. Bonus for our cast? Our own Cinderella-esque soprano Brigitta Simon finally got to visit Disney world!

3. A special guest 

When tenor Brian Cheney performed on the PBS We Heart Public Broadcasting telethon in November, he had the honour and privilege of being backed by prolific musician Wayne Linsey, whose illustrious career spans studios, stages, and screens. What a lovely surprise it was for Mr. Linsey to be part of our audience at Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert in Los Angeles this season, where he was able to sit back and watch Brian Cheney perform from the comfort of a concert hall seat.

4. A stampede for tickets

Calgary holds the title of first city to sell out its Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert tickets year after year. But this season, Vancouver gave Cowtown a run for its money, selling out the Orpheum just hours after Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall. Canada as a whole showed strength in numbers this season, with five of its seven cities completely selling out. 

5. Concerted Cohorts

The most beautiful part of any tradition is watching younger generations enjoy and embrace the experience as they keep the flame burning. Since Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert debuted 30 years ago, families have expanded, with many of those who first attended as children now attending with children of their own. This season we saw and heard from countless multi-generation families who attended together. Even the Glatzes had three generations of their own family in attendance in Toronto!

While these five particular highlights are easy for us to itemize, the memorable moments we experienced this season are countless and complex. It is hard to pinpoint and describe the feeling of a soprano hitting a specific note, or a dancer moving with particular grace, or catching the sparkle in the eye of an audience member. It is difficult to put into words the sound of 2,500 people joining in a chorus of Auld Lang Syne.

So many special moments we shared with our audiences and our casts can only live on in that special, private place inside that we can return to whenever we are in need of a little joy. We hope Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert brought you some of these special moments you can keep tucked away as well. Thank you, from the bottom of our full hearts, for a beautiful and memorable 30^th Anniversary Season!