KD SCHMID Andris Nelsons

Conductor

Andris Nelsons

Biography – about the artist.

Music Director Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Gewandhauskapellmeister Leipzig

Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. These two positions, in addition to his leadership of a pioneering alliance between both institutions, have firmly established Grammy Award-winning Nelsons as one of the most sought-after conductors in the world today.

Nelsons' positions in Boston and Leipzig commenced in the 2014/15 season and February 2018, respectively. In Autumn 2019, Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig came together for three joint performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall. This ground-breaking alliance has since led to co-commissions, musician exchanges, and educational collaborations. In May 2025, the partnership will celebrate a further milestone when the Boston Symphony Orchestra joins the Gewandhausorchester for the Shostakovich Festival Leipzig, a comprehensive and globally unique celebration of the composer’s music, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Nelsons will conduct two performances of „Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” and all major Shostakovich symphonies, including a joint performance of the „Leningrad” Symphony No. 7, featuring musicians from both orchestras. As part of the festival, Nelsons will also conduct the newly created Festival Orchestra made up of young musicians from the Mendelssohn-Akademie Leipzig and the Tanglewood Music Center, an educational institution which Nelsons has been leading as Head of Conducting since 2024.


Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig will begin their 2024/25 season with a European tour, returning, among others, to the Lucerne Festival, and culminating in the season opening at the Gewandhaus. A further tour in February and March 2025 will feature celebrated soloist duo Lucas & Arthur Jussen in concerts across Europe. Nelsons will conduct contemporary works by Gewandhauskomponist Thomas Adès, as well as new commissions by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural composer chair, Carlos Simon. The season in Boston, which marks Nelsons' 10th anniversary as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will include a complete Beethoven symphony cycle, a residency at Carnegie Hall in New York, and a European tour to Riga, Vienna, Prague and Leipzig with all-Shostakovich programmes. Nelsons will also resume his guest appearances, including a four-week Asia tour with the Wiener Philharmoniker, consisting of 22 concerts in 10 cities across South Korea, China, and Japan. The tour will also feature several world-renowned soloists – including frequent collaborator Seong-Jin Cho. Andris Nelsons will further mark his return to the Berliner Philharmoniker in December with performances of Bruckner’s eighth symphony.

Andris Nelsons is an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon, a partnership which has resulted in various landmark projects with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Wiener Philharmoniker. Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra partner on recordings of the complete Shostakovich symphonies and the opera „Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” – a cycle which has garnered four GRAMMY awards in the categories Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album. Furthermore, Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig recently concluded a critically acclaimed Bruckner symphonic cycle in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. Nelsons’ recordings of Beethoven’s complete symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker were released in October 2019. As part of the alliance between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsche Grammophon produced a celebrated 2022 release of Richard Strauss’ major symphonic works performed by both orchestras.

Born in Riga in 1978 into a family of musicians, Andris Nelsons began his career as a trumpeter in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra whilst studying conducting. He was Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2015, Principal Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany 2006-2009 and Music Director of the Latvian National Opera 2003-2007.

SEASON 2024/2025


Orchestra.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

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Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

Under the direction of Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig embarks on a European festival tour.

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Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons go on a European tour.

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The next dates:

12.12.2024

Philharmonie Berlin

Berlin

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13.12.2024

Philharmonie Berlin

Berlin

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14.12.2024

Philharmonie Berlin

Berlin

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19.12.2024

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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20.12.2024

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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29.12.2024

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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30.12.2024

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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31.12.2024

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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09.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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10.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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11.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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16.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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17.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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18.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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21.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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23.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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24.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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25.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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30.01.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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01.02.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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13.02.2025

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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14.02.2025

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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16.02.2025

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

Leipzig

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24.02.2025

Teatro de la Maestranza

Sevilla

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25.02.2025

Auditorio Nacional de Música

Madrid

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26.02.2025

Auditorio Nacional de Música

Madrid

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28.02.2025

Alte Oper Frankfurt

Frankfurt

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01.03.2025

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Dortmund

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03.03.2025

Hannover Congress Centrum

Hannover

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04.03.2025

Elbphilharmonie

Hamburg

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05.03.2025

Elbphilharmonie

Hamburg

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07.03.2025

Festspielhaus und Festspiele Baden-Baden gGmbH

Baden-Baden

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08.03.2025

Festspielhaus und Festspiele Baden-Baden gGmbH

Baden-Baden

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21.03.2025

Konzerthalle Bamberg

Bamberg

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22.03.2025

Konzerthalle Bamberg

Bamberg

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10.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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11.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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17.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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18.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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19.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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23.04.2025

Carnegie Hall

New York

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24.04.2025

Carnegie Hall

New York

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26.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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27.04.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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02.05.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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03.05.2025

Symphony Hall

Boston

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08.05.2025

Musikverein Wien

Wien

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09.05.2025

Musikverein Wien

Wien

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14.05.2025

Smetana Hall, Municipal House Obecni Dum Praha

Praha 1

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29.05.2025

Gewandhaus zu Leipzig

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Your contact persons:

General Management and Managing Director:

Karen McDonald

+44 20 7395 09-15

karen.mcdonald@kdschmid.co.uk

General Management:

Andreas Flohr

+44 20 7395 09-30

andreas.flohr@kdschmid.co.uk

Artist Coordination:

Michael Zwiauer

+44 20 7395 09-20

michael.zwiauer@kdschmid.co.uk

Listen, See & feel the music.

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Artist Coordination:

Michael Zwiauer

+44 20 7395 09-20

michael.zwiauer@kdschmid.co.uk

Discography.

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 12 & 13

10.2023, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Sommernachtskonzert 2022

Wiener Philharmoniker | Gautier Capuçon

07.2022, Sony Classical, CD, DVD

> Amazon > iTunes

Strauss

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig | Boston Symphony Orchestra | Yuja Wang | Yo-Yo Ma

05.2022, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Bruckner

Symphonies Nos. 2 & 8

02.2021, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Bruckner

Symphonies Nos. 6 & 9

05.2019, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 "The Year 1905"

07.2018, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

Bruckner

Symphony No. 7 - Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March (Live)

04.2018, Deutsche Grammophon, CD

> Amazon > iTunes

News.

Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker Embark on Asian Tour with Seong-Jin Cho

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Andris Nelsons and Boston Symphony Orchestra open 2024/25 season

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Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig inaugurate the new season in Essen

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Andris Nelsons returns to the Salzburger Festpsiele with the Wiener Philharmoniker

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Andris Nelsons – Tanglewood 2024

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Andris Nelsons returns to the Münchner Philharmoniker

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Andris Nelsons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic's annual Summer Night's Concert

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Andris Nelsons and the Jussen Brothers in Leipzig

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Andris Nelsons and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony

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10th Season for Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

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Season 2024/2025: 6 KD SCHMID Artists with the Berliner Philharmoniker

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Andris Nelsons and Håkan Hardenberger in Stockholm

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Andris Nelsons back on tour with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

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Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra return to Carnegie Hall

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Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig begin their European Festival tour

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Summer Festivals 2022

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Andris Nelsons returns to the Bayreuther Festspiele

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Press.

„Nelsons celebrates the sheer delight in the grand symphony away from all self-reflective moments and interpretations.“

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Helmut Mauró, 10.08.2020

„The Philharmonic Orchestra and Andris Nelsons let the death march of Gustav Mahler's Sixth unroll magnificently on a relentless ground beat. In Salzburg's Großes Festspielhaus, the ensemble indulged in intoxication of sound and a longing for death, without using the associated clichés.“

Der Standard, Heidemarie Klabacher, 09.08.2020

„„[Nelsons] is evidently, sometimes even visibly, a high-precision operator, while a certain earthiness of manner was all to the good in managing the cosmic immensities of the Mahler““

The Sunday Times, Paul Driver, 09.09.2018

„Nelsons revealed himself as a sensitive Mahler interpreter, nevertheless one with a very firm grip. His focus was on the concentrates on sculpture of the details, without losing sight of the great sound.““

Wiener Zeitung, Judith Belfkih, 31.07.2018

„Andris Nelsons performed a miracle of amalgamation of precision and exuberance, plainness and proliferation of sound, constrained rigour and freely floating dynamics.“

drehpunktkultur.at, Hans Gärtner, 29.07.2018

„Nelsons […] again and again retrieves new glories from all corners of this really superb orchestra.“

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher, 13.05.2018