New Year's Day 2025 Fireworks & Concert Online

 I saw fireworks after midnight.

A chance to see last night's London fireworks on the BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c205y3zwl27o

Sunburst patterns on the big wheel - once called The London Eye. Huge white fan shapes of vertical rockets from the embankment to left and right. of the London Eye.

The London Eye, an observation wheel, is known to Americans as a Ferris Wheel. 

I am all in favour of AI which handily tells me more than I thought of asking.

• Name history: The London Eye has had several official names, including the British Airways London Eye, the Merlin Entertainments London Eye, and the EDF Energy London Eye. It was most recently the Coca-Cola London Eye, but is now sponsored by lastminute.com. 
• Origin: The London Eye was originally submitted as an entry to a competition to design a new landmark for London's millennium. 
• Design: The London Eye was designed by architects David Marks and Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield Architects. Their design was inspired by the idea of a "flight" and was intended to provide a unique perspective of the city. 
• Height: The London Eye is 443 feet (135 meters) tall. 
• Location: The London Eye is located on the South Bank of the River Thames. 
Popularity: The London Eye is one of London's most popular tourist attractions, with over three million visitors annually. 


AI also tells me what time and which channel will broadcast the New Year's Day Concert from Vienna, Austria. Unfortunately when I copy it here I get the text in a column. If I try to delete a single space, the whole piece disappears.  I am happily listening to Johann Strauss Junior's lilting waltz music. If you miss it, or want to hear it again, or to play it to somebody else, you can get it later on the iplayer. For me the highlights are the dancers in the second half and the jolly song chosen for the encore.
AI Overview


The Vienna New Year's Concert was broadcast in the UK on New Year's Day at 10:15 AM GMT on BBC Two. It was also available on Radio 3 from 9:30 AM. 
The Vienna New Year's Concert is an annual performance of classical music by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna, Austria. The concert takes place in the Musikverein's Golden Hall at 11:15 AM. The orchestra performs the same program on December 30 and 31, but only the January 1 concert is broadcast on radio and television.











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January 1st New Year's Day Concert

 

My husband has a picture of a clarinet. He plays the clarinet. On his screen we watched the New Year's Day concert. The handy subtitles reminded up of the programme and which piece of music was playing. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

New Year Resolutions

Set timers so that I don't miss or arrive late for events. We did miss the New Year's Day concert but were able to catch up with it later.

New Year's Day concert in Vienna

10.15 am on BBC2.

The concert has taken place for around 80 years with high prices for the in demand seats, but worldwide, we can watch the concert on the day, or later.

Here are the highlights. 

Decor

The concert  hall is viewed on TV from above the heads of the audience at all angles including close ups of the superb ceiling where gilt frames the blue backed pictures of human beings. Down below are the golden statues, and bronze pillars. 

Ten multiple-glass drop candelabra hang over the audience. Ten. I counted them, twice, three times - to be sure.

Flowers

The flowers from local parks have been cultivated to bloom in December, I presume in greenhouses, although I had roses in the garden in England in early December before the snow in mid-December.

In the second half you see the Vienna Boy's Choir. In 2023, for the first time, the boys were joined by girls.

Useful Websites

Did you miss the New Year's Day Concert, broadcast by the BBC from Vienna?

Problem
My family in Singapore missed their favourite New Year's Day activity, watching the concert from Vienna, Austria, with ballet dancing accompanying the music, pictures of the grand concert hall, an informative commentary on the music, musicians and city, and sometimes a travelogue around Vienna or Austria. Unfortunately, the BBC broadcasts, even if you have paid your license fee in the UK, are not available in outside the UK, as the notice on your screen informs you.

Answer
Fortunately, the concert is available on the iplayer for late watching throughout January. So, if you are returning home to the UK after New Year, or staying with a family in the UK which has BBC iplayer available, you can watch the concert.

Do you really want to watch it? You can find out by watching the brief trailer on YouTube.

We love the concert. The broadcast includes the grand gilded building adorned with flower displays, moments of glamour from the ballet costumes, skill from the dancers. The music is usually upbeat and the happy mood is often accentuated by humour from the conductor interacting with members of the orchestra.

You can re-live or revive your memories of a previous year's event and get a glimpse of the next one as a reminder to put it in your diary to watch it when you get the chance.

Here's the YouTube trailer for the 2017 concert showing the venue and the jollity of the occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XxX00Bjjzk

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

New Year's Day - Vienna Concert and London Parade

New Year's Day Concert from Vienna
The New Year's Day Concert from the golden hall in Vienna featured music by the Strauss family (father Johann and three sons) and was conducted this year by jovial Indian Mehta, very dapper. It was broadcast on the BBC1 lunch time today, can be seen again on the iplayer and/or caught on BBC3 radio BBC4 tv. It features scenes of Vienna and Austria.

Here is Strauss senior, also known as Johann Strauss I. His three sons were Johann Strauss II, Josef and Eduard.

Matching the music, the dancing was mesmerising, modern, elegant, amusing, flowing. The girls tiptoe or are tossed in the air effortlessly by the boys.

Costumes, as usual are wonderful. Starting with the dramatic black and white 'students' ballet. Finishing some gorgeous flimsy, flowing red and white dresses with black ribbons, each dress subtly different.

The opening music was the best, and the finale of Johann Senior's stirring Radestsky March.

New Year's Day Parade
Next on TV was the New Year's Day Parade. In London, the frost has disappeared but although warmer, it is chillingly cold. According to news reports crowds were out, despite the weather, to see the parade. I'm happy not to be there, just watching on the internet. For a list of the parade participants, see the Daily Mirror site:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/london-new-years-day-parade-4902202