Bergamo is preparing to ring in the New Year with a diverse series of musical performances, continuing a longstanding local tradition. From grand symphonic events to intimate chamber music gatherings and spirited band performances, the concerts-beginning December 28th-offer a range of experiences for residents and visitors alike. This year’s offerings include a world premiere composition and performances honoring the 200th anniversary of Johann Strauss’s birth, promising a vibrant start to 2026.
Celebrating the arrival of the new year, Bergamo and its province are continuing a beloved tradition that blends music, community, and artistry: the “New Year’s Concerts.” These performances aren’t just about resolutions and toasts; they’re an opportunity to be swept away by the sounds of classical music in diverse settings, all united by a desire to begin the year in harmony. From chamber music gatherings to grand symphonic events, and even band performances, Bergamo is becoming a stage for great music, ringing in the new year with beauty and elegance.
The festivities begin early in Città Alta, on December 28, at 5 p.m. at Sala Piatti, with the “End of Year Concert” organized by the Società del Quartetto di Bergamo. The stunning hall will host an event dedicated to the Strauss family – commemorating the bicentennial of one of its most celebrated members, Johann Strauss – who for decades had Europe dancing to their waltzes and polkas, becoming a cultural symbol of 19th-century Central Europe.
The concert will take audiences on a musical journey, pairing contemporary perspectives on the waltz with chamber reinterpretations, designed to showcase the stylistic richness and surprising versatility of one of the most iconic forms of the 19th century. Performing will be the Adorno Quartet (Edoardo Zosi, Liù Pelliciari, violins; Benedetta Bucci, viola; Maria Salvatori, cello) alongside pianists Maria Grazia Bellocchio and Giorgio Lazzari.
The music will weave together the sound world of contemporary composer Wolfgang Rihm and that of Johann Strauss, alternating performances of Rihm’s « Mehrere kurze Walzer op. 314», which reinterprets the Viennese tradition through a contemporary sensibility, playing with fragments, suspensions, and expressive shifts, creating an ideal bridge between tradition and modernity. The sound universe of Johann Strauss will be presented in historical transcriptions by Arnold Schonberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, aiming for a more rigorous, intimate, and analytical listening experience of the symphonic repertoires, revealing the clarity and freshness of the Strauss musical style.
Concluding the event will be a world premiere composition by Bergamo native Stefano Gervasoni, «Abyss Waltz», written specifically for this occasion. The performance will be preceded by a lecture, preparing the audience for the listening experience on the same day, at 3:30 p.m. also at Sala Piatti (free admission) by Roberto Iovino, author of “Strauss – A Dynasty in Waltz Time,” and Nicole Olivieri, to fully understand the historical and cultural context of the family in the 19th century and the transcriptions presented in the concert. Admission to the lecture is free. Concert tickets cost 30 euros, 5 euros for young people.
Bergamo will open 2026 with one of its most anticipated and established events. The “New Year’s Concert”, hosted at the Teatro Sociale, has long been a reference point for local audiences and beyond. The atmosphere will be one of grand occasions: the theater slowly filling up, the murmur before the start, the orchestra ready to give the first musical signal of the new year. The January 1st, 11 a.m. concert program will pay tribute to the Strauss family and to that repertoire of waltzes, polkas and marches that immediately evokes the elegance of Viennese concerts and an important tradition that, for decades, has represented the symbol of the new year.
The Italian Philharmonic Orchestra
Featured will be the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, active for more than forty years and present in major opera festivals, in the programming of national theaters and in many musical events broadcast by RAI, the Vatican Network and even worldwide. The orchestra is conducted by Davide Catina, who graduated in trombone and later perfected his orchestral conducting skills at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale di Saluzzo. The music of the Strauss family is music that speaks to everyone, capable of being refined without being distant, festive without losing depth: a solemn but at the same time light start to the year, ideal for those who want to indulge in a cultural moment of high level after the celebrations of the previous night.
Moving outside the city center and into the province, the New Year’s musical celebrations take on different but equally fascinating nuances. In Zanica, for example, the concert will take place in an intimate and suggestive setting like the beautiful Parish Church of S. Nicolò, on January 1st at 4 p.m. Admission is free. Here, music will also be an opportunity for meeting and sharing: the duo formed by Marco Ruggeri (organ) and Lina Uinskyte (violin), among the most established formations for this ensemble at the Italian level thanks to a very wide repertoire, ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century, both with original pieces and transcriptions from piano and orchestra, will be performing.
Lina Uinskyte and Marco Ruggeri
The dialogue between violin and organ will accompany the audience on a musical journey through Europe, with a repertoire designed to enhance the acoustics of the sacred space and create an intimate and meditative atmosphere, exploring authors from the 17th and 18th centuries in France (such as Louis Daquin or Jean-Jacques Charpentier), to arrive at the vivid Romanticism of Niccolò Paganini («Cantabile op. 17» and the famous «Campanella») and the Austro-German 19th century of Franz Schubert («Konzertstuck D. 345»), without forgetting also the «prodigal son» of Zanica, the organist and composer Father Davide da Bergamo (1791-1863) whose «Prayer» for solo organ will be performed.
This won’t just be a concert, but an afternoon that will invite deep listening and reflection, without sacrificing the convivial dimension: the traditional final toast at the Don Milani Socio-Cultural Center will transform the event into a moment of collective good wishes.
The traditional “New Year’s Concert” of the Scanzorosciate Alpine Band will open the new year with an evening of great music and conviviality. The appointment is set for January 5, at 8:45 p.m. in the setting of the Rosciate Theater. The evening, presented by Francesco Brighenti, will see the Alpine Band performing under the direction of Maestro Francesco Acerbis, who will guide the musicians in a rich, varied and exciting program, capable of uniting tradition, classical music and soundtracks loved by all generations.
The musical program will take listeners on an itinerary through styles and eras: it will begin with «The Exodus Song» (arranged by Johan de Meij), then pay homage to great Italian opera with «Ricordanze» by Gaetano Donizetti and the famous «Largo al Factotum» by Gioachino Rossini. There will also be the band repertoire of the English tradition with «First Suite» by the British Gustav Holst, alongside the colors of the Alpine tradition with «La Bella del Cadore». The program will continue with the cinematic emotions of «How to Train the Dragon» by John Powell, the Italian progressive rock of the medley «New Trolls in concert» and the overwhelming energy of the «Bud Spencer Medley». As tradition dictates for every New Year’s Concert, the grand finale will be with Johann Strauss’s festive «Radetzky March», to greet the new year with enthusiasm and applause.
The New Year’s Concert of the Scanzorosciate Alpine Band
(Photo Tiziano Piazza)
These events, despite their different sizes, locations and artistic proposals, will tell the spirit with which Bergamo and its province will welcome the new year. On one hand there will be the great tradition of the city, on the other the more intimate and community initiatives of the provincial centers: together they will compose a mosaic of culture not to be missed. However, these are not the only events planned. We leave you with other proposals that you can find in the agenda of Eppen.
