(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Close out 2025 in style with State Theatre New Jersey's annual Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert on Wednesday, December 31, 2025 at 5:00pm. Celebrating 30 years in North America and 20 years at STNJ, the fan favorite returns to New Brunswick for a dazzling anniversary season.
With timeless music, dazzling costumes, breathtaking dance, and stunning floral designs, Salute to Vienna is a festive, European-inspired New Year's celebration modeled after the world-famous New Year's Concert in Vienna, the Neujahrskonzert—a concert presented by the Vienna Philharmonic every New Year's Day—beloved for its lively music and time-honored traditions. Celebrating 30 years in North America, Salute to Vienna sustains and reinvents these traditions with a 2.25-hour concert of dancing, duets, and arias from light operettas, all narrated by a European conductor who is both talented and fun, backed by a full symphony orchestra.
Featuring the Strauss Symphony of America with Nir Kabaretti, conductor (Vienna); Rebecca Nelsen, soprano (Vienna); and Thomas Weinhappel, baritone (Vienna). Also featuring dancers from Europaballet St. Pölten (Austria) and International Champion Ballroom Dancers.
At the heart of Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert is the soul-stirring music of Johann Strauss Jr. The 200th anniversary of The Waltz King's birth adds to the celebratory spirit this season as a selection of his most treasured waltzes, marches, arias, and duets—and, of course, the beautiful Blue Danube waltz—remain prominent in the program.
Tickets start at $51 and are available for purchase online or by calling State Theatre Guest Services at 732-246-SHOW (7469). State Theatre Guest Services, located at 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick NJ, is open by phone and email only, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00am to 5:00pm. For in-person purchases, Guest Services is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00pm to 4:30pm. Additional ticket and transaction fees may apply.
State Theatre New Jersey, a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, celebrated its 100th Anniversary after major renovations in December 2021. Originally built as a silent film and vaudeville palace, State Theatre's historic significance was honored when PBS featured it in its documentary series, Treasures of New Jersey. Having played a significant role in revitalizing New Brunswick—crowned "Jersey's Best Destination of the Year" for 2025 by Jersey's Best magazine—State Theatre resides in the heart of the city's arts district.
Today, State Theatre is the largest performing arts center in Central New Jersey and has welcomed more than six and a half million people through its doors since reopening as a nonprofit performing arts center in 1988. State Theatre New Jersey is a cornerstone of the cultural vitality of Middlesex County and averages a total economic impact on New Brunswick and the surrounding area of more than $18 million a year. The mainstage programs have included high-caliber artists such as Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Kevin Hart, Ringo Starr, Melissa Etheridge, John Leguizamo, Harry Connick, Jr., Peter Frampton, and Leanne Morgan. Program offerings include Broadway, orchestra, family, dance, comedy, rock/pop, jazz, Performances for Schools, and Sensory-Friendly Performances.
State Theatre New Jersey's programs are made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com.
