For this Viennese favourites New Year's Gala concert the orchestra plays various cheerful pieces from the Strauss family, including arias from the Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Johann Strauss as well as his famous Blue Danube waltz. This is the Iceland Symphony Orchestra's most popular annual event, and the audience is very much looking forward to the first Vienna New Years Music in the Harpa Concert Hall. Popping corks, fizzing bubbly, exquisite dresses, poise and splendor are essential parts of the Vienna sound that kicks off the new year. Conductor Willy Büchler will be in a familiar role. He is the first guest conductor of the Strauss Festival Orchestra in Vienna. Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir (Diddú) is one of Iceland's best-loved sopranos. Her successful career has seen her as one of the best opera singers in the country as well as a top performer with her popular folk and pop group Spilverk Þjóðanna.