The New Year's Concert: A Forever Tradition

Each year, when Marion and Attila Glatz attend the Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concerts they produce, they are brought to tears. As of this coming January, that will be 30 years’ worth of joyful tears shed as they take in the beauty and exuberance of the tradition they brought to North America.

Behind every great story is a moment that changes everything, and for Marion and Attila, that moment came shortly after they emigrated to Canada.

Growing up in Austria, Marion Glatz started every year with hope in her heart thanks to the New Year’s Day concert. January 1st was a time for family to gather around the radio and forget their worries as they took in the uplifting sounds of Johann Strauss’s marches and waltzes. Marion remembers dancing around the table as a little girl and, as an adult, opening bottles of champagne with husband Attila. No matter her age, the New Year’s Concert was always a time for Marion to put her worries and troubles aside and embrace the upcoming year.

But when Marion and Attila Glatz moved to Toronto, they realized something was missing.

Champagne corks were popped on New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day just seemed to lack the joy from their childhoods. The couple could find no trace of the beloved Austrian tradition that dated all the way back to 1838, or even similar new year’s concerts in North America.

That’s when Marion said, “We have to try.”

The Austrian-Hungarian couple made it their mission to bring the concert of hope, joy and happiness to North America. Venues seemed skeptical that patrons would want to stray from their typical new year’s celebrations, but Marion knew in her heart it would work.

In 1995 they produced their first Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert and, just as Marion and Attila predicted, people came. And loved it.

Today, nearly 30 years later, Marion and Attila not only get to experience the inspiring Austrian tradition they missed so dearly, but they get the bonus of knowing they are helping to share the celebration with a new audience, and help foster the feeling of hope – and the happy tears – through music that Marion grew up with.