The transition of the year is celebrated in a festive way by the Staatskapelle Berlin. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is traditionally on the program. On New Year's Day 1997, Daniel Barenboim conducted a festive concert program with soloists, magicians and dancers. It was televised worldwide and now appears on DVD. Among the stars who performed we hear the young violinist Raphael Christ, the sopranos Dorothea Röschmann and Simone Nold, as well as Rosemarie Lang, Reiner Goldberg, René Pape and others. We see and hear songs and opera fragments by Kurt Weill, Walter Kollo and WA Mozart. Baranboim also conducts orchestral pieces by Otto Nicolai, Camile Saint-Saëns, PI Tchaikowski, Dimitri Shostakovitch, Paul Lincke and, of course, Johann Strauss's polka Unter Donner Und Blitzen.