The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra announced this Thursday, during its New Year’s concert, the name of the conductor who will take charge of the New Year’s Concert 2027. This announcement follows the custom of making public the maestro chosen to take charge of the following year’s famous performance during the same concert. The name announced on this occasion has been that of the Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev (Vladikavkaz, 48 years old), who made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid 20 years ago, when he was a young promise. This is the first time he has been invited to conduct the New Year’s Concert, although he has already conducted this great orchestra.
Tugan Sokhiev’s collaboration with this historic Viennese orchestra dates back to 2009 during an Asian tour in Seoul. The Russian’s baton has led the Viennese Philharmonic in Vienna itself in several subscription concerts and also in other cities around the world. He conducted the Midsummer Night’s Concert for the first time, and also the Johann Strauss Anniversary Gala.
Tugan Sokhiev was musical director and chief conductor of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater from 2014 to 2022, when he resigned in protest against the invasion of Ukraine. At the same time he left the musical direction of the Toulousse Orchestra after being pressured by the media to take sides. “I have been forced to choose between my beloved Russia and my beloved French musicians,” he explained then. “I have never supported and will always be against conflicts of any kind.” Coming from the same Russian region as Valery Gergiev, Sokhiev was considered very close to the maestro who. However, he has remained very close to the Putin regime.
Sokhiev has performed at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera. According to the Vienna Philharmonic, the Russian maestro, a disciple of Ilya Musin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, is especially committed to the training of young musicians. He actively participated in the Vienna Philharmonic academies for young musicians. In 2016, he founded a conducting academy in Toulouse.
“Tugan Sokhiev has been a close musical and personal friend since 2009. Our first performances together quickly fostered a strong mutual trust and musical understanding, which has continually deepened and developed since then, looking forward to our future projects and the upcoming New Year’s Concert,” Vienna Philharmonic President Daniel Froschauer explained in the text accompanying the announcement.
The election of Sokhiev seems to follow the line of renewal and new bets undertaken in 2026 with the election of the 50-year-old Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who also has an important lyrical resume as musical director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.