This year, Mariss Jansons conducted the annual concert, which features Strauss waltzes and other Viennese bonbons. It is broadcast live to an audience of millions around the world and recorded for CD release.

The much-prized tickets for the concert are distributed through a lottery. The drawing for the 2007 concert takes place later this month; registration is currently underway at www.wienerphilharmoniker.at.

Mehta, the former music director of the Montreal Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, first conducted the VPO in 1961. He was made an honorary member of the orchestra in 2001.