Ring in the New Year

Wolfgang Sawallisch WHYY celebrates with the sounds of Philadelphia
Edited by Mary Eileen O'Connor

Start your New Year on the right note by tuning in to WHYY TV12 for a day of music from some of the world's best artists:

A Thousand Years of Music and Spirit The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir perform the works of Bogurodzica, Gorecki and Beethoven amidst the majesty of St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow, Poland. 1:30 p.m.

The Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey "Bach to the Future" Music Director George Marriner Maull leads the Philharmonic in a performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Third Movement. 3 p.m.

The Philadelphia Orchestra 100th Birthday Gala The Orchestra celebrated 100 years of making music and history in 2000 with this gala concert at the Academy of Music, which was part of WHYY's landmark Philadelphia Performs! series. Wolfgang Sawallisch leads the "Fabulous Philadelphians" as they perform Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Copland's Old American Songs and other significant works. The concert also features performances by pianist André Watts, violinist Sarah Chang and baritone Thomas Hampson. 4 p.m.

The Philadelphia Orchestra: A New Century, A New Home Tracey Matisak hosts WHYY's award-winning broadcast of the Orchestra's first concert in their new home in Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center.

The gala features a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto by violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax and the world premiere of composer Aaron Jay Kernis' Color Wheel, written especially for the Orchestra's Verizon Hall debut. 7 p.m.

From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2003 Walter Cronkite hosts the annual festivities at Vienna's Musikverein. Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the Vienna Philharmonic in a concert of Strauss Family waltzes, including "On the Beautiful Blue Danube," and dancers from the Vienna State Opera Ballet perform Strauss's "Hellenic Polka." 9 p.m.