Willi Boskovsky

He was also, from 1955, the conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert, which is mostly devoted to the music of Johann Strauss II and his contemporaries.

In chamber ensemble he led the Boskovsky Quartet with Philipp Matheis (2nd violin), Gunther Breitenbach (viola) and Nikolaus Hübner (violoncello).

A month after his last New Year's Concert, after having already agreed with Alfred Altenburger to conduct again in 1980, on 30 January 1979 he was hit by a stroke, which caused him a slight paralysis on the right side.

In October 1979, the convalescence being too slow, he communicated his decision to give up and the orchestra asked Lorin Maazel, designated director of the Vienna State Opera, to carry on the tradition of these concerts.

Boskovsky's New Year's Day 1979 concert was recorded live by Decca, the first commercial use of their proprietary PCM digital system.