ProMusica Chamber Orchestra to perform on New Year's Eve

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra will perform a New Year’s Eve concert at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Southern Theatre. Tickets are $62-$32. A pre-concert party at The Westin Columbus, featuring music and hors d’oeuvres, will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30. Visit www.promusicacolumbus.org.

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra will bring a little touch of Vienna to Columbus this New Year’s Eve.

In the tradition of the world-renowned New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, a tradition that dates to 1939, ProMusica will herald 2012 with the music of old Vienna, as well as the music of Broadway.

“We wanted to provide a destination event for Columbus on New Year’s Eve,” music director Timothy Russell said. “The program melds the tradition of the Viennese New Year’s concert with things that America has shared with the music world.

“It’s music to get people feeling good as they bring in the new year,” he said.

The traditional repertoire is based on the core of the Vienna concerts: waltzes, marches and polkas by predominantly Austrian composers, in particular Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II.

Strauss the younger is also known as “The Waltz King,” and his Emperor Waltz and Blue Danube are pillars of the form. His father was a prolific composer as well; his Radetzky March is one of the great orchestral marches and a favorite of Vienna audiences.

“These are pieces people would have really danced to but stand as concert pieces as well,” Russell told The Beat. “It’s high art but really great fun.”

Russell said that, with the Viennese portion of the program devoted to a culture’s song and dance, selecting Broadway songs. Including selections from Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, The King and I, My Fair Lady and The Phantom of the Opera was logical for the balance.

Baritone Keith Puterbaugh (who helped Russell inaugurate a still-annual New Year’s concert in Naples, Fla., some 20 years ago) and soprano Sarah Pfisterer (a veteran of more than 1,000 performances as Christine in Phantom) will join ProMusica for this part of the concert.

The New Year’s Eve concert is affiliated with First Night Columbus, and each ticket includes an admission button for First Night events.

The evening also will include a champagne toast at intermission to help kick off the yearlong observance of the Columbus bicentennial.

“We are really looking forward to our very first New Year’s Eve performance at the beginning of the bicentennial celebration,” executive director Janet Chen said. “Our success is a result of the support we’ve received from the people of central Ohio, and we’re honored to be part of this great event in Columbus’ history.”