The Gewandhausorchester is the oldest civic symphony orchestra in the world. The enterprise was founded in 1743 by a group of 16 musical philanthropists – representatives of the nobility as well as regular citizens - forming a concert society by the name of Das Große Concert. On taking residence in the trading house of the city's textile merchants (the 'Gewandhaus') in 1781, the ensemble assumed the name Gewandhausorchester. Many celebrated musicians have been appointed to the office of Gewandhauskapellmeister (Music Director and Principal Conductor), including Johann Adam Hiller, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Arthur Nikisch and Kurt Masur. After his inauguration in 2005, Riccardo Chailly's phenomenally successful tenure as Gewandhauskapellmeister came to an end in 2016. Andris Nelsons assumed the position of Gewandhauskapellmeister in the 2017/18 season.

The Gewandhausorchester´s unique contribution to Europe´s historical and current musical wealth has been recognized with the award of the European Cultural Heritage Label.

Music lovers worldwide revere the highly individual sound palette that distinguishes the Gewandhausorchester from all other symphony orchestras. This unique sound identity, along with the extraordinarily rich diversity of the repertoire which the Gewandhausorchester performs, is cultivated in over 200 performances each year in the Orchestra's three 'homes': as concert orchestra in the Gewandhaus, orchestra of the Leipzig Opera and orchestra for the weekly performances of the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach with the Thomanerchor in St. Thomas's Church. No other elite symphony orchestra dedicates itself so intensively to the performance of the music of J.S. Bach.

The Gewandhausorchester has toured the globe on a regular basis since 1916 and enjoys almost unparalleled presence in the media of radio, television, CD and DVD.

Few other ensembles have exerted such significant and enduring influence on the development of the symphonic music tradition as the Gewandhausorchester. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has consistently attracted the collaborative energies of the world's most eminent composers, conductors and soloists. The Gewandhausorchester performed a complete cycle of the symphonies of Beethoven during his lifetime (1825/26), as well as the first ever cycle of Bruckner's symphonies to be mounted (1919/20). Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto Emperor, Brahms' Violin Concerto and Deutsches Requiem and Bruckner's 7th Symphony are just a fraction of the wealth of the core symphonic repertoire to be given its first performance by the Gewandhausorchester. The Orchestra commissions and premieres new works each season to this day.

A decisive contribution to the development of the symphonic repertoire must be attributed to the celebrated Gewandhauskapellmeister, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. During his tenure from 1835 until 1847, he presided over the first performances of numerous works from his own pen, for instance the Violin Concerto, the Scottish Symphony and his Overture to Ruy Blas, as well as the world premieres of many works of other composers, including Schubert's C major Symphony The Great and Schumann's 1st, 2nd and 4th symphonies. Through the introduction of new programming concepts – highly innovative for the time - Mendelssohn sharpened the Gewandhaus audiences' awareness of the music of times past, most notably reviving the performance of the orchestral oeuvre of J.S. Bach.

It was on Mendelssohn's initiative that Germany's first conservatoire was founded, in Leipzig, in 1843 - the modern day University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy". Following the principles established by Mendelssohn himself, the Gewandhausorchester and University collaborate in the form of the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy, offering the most talented young musicians the opportunity to hone their skills to the level required by the world's elite orchestras. Graduates of the Orchesterakademie receive a master's degree from the University.

The CD and DVD productions released by the Gewandhausorchester since the turn of the millenium have been decorated with a plethora of international record awards, including a Golden Disc. Under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, the Decca label produced a complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonies and nine of his overtures (CD, 2007-2009) and a cycle of Brahms' symphonies (CD, 2012-2013). Riccardo Chailly also led the Orchestra in numerous acclaimed DVD recordings of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler (accentus music, 2011-2015). To mark the occasion of Herbert Blomstedt's 90th birthday in July 2017, a new complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonic oeuvre conducted by the Gewandhausorchester's Conductor Laureate was released by accentus music. This label has released two DVD productions with the Orchestra and the new Gewandhauskapellmeister, Andris Nelsons: Antonín Dvořák's 9th Szmphony From the New World (released in February 2018) and Alban Berg's Violin Concerto coupled with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Scottish Symphony (released in August 2018).

In 2022 Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester completed the cycle of all symphonies of Anton Bruckner, produced on CD by Deutsche Grammophon. In 2024, the CDs of the cycle will be released as a box set, plus a recording of the symphony “Nr. 0” which will appear on CD for the first time with the Gewandhausorchestra.

Under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt the last CD of the complete recording of all symphonies by Johannes Brahms was released by Pentatone in 2022 (coupled with the Tragic Overture op. 81 & Academic Festival Overture op. 80). On the occasion of Sofia Gubaidulina's 90th birthday in October 2021, Deutsche Grammophon released a CD with world premiere recordings of Der Zorn Gottes, Das Licht des Endes and the violin concerto No. 3 Dialog: Ich und Du (Vadim Repin violin) under the baton of Andris Nelsons. A seven-CD box set of important symphonic works by Richard Strauss, recorded by the Gewandhausorchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons will be released by Deutsche Grammophon in May 2022. Under the baton of Franz-Welser Möst, the Gewandhausorchester can be heard together with pianist Igor Levit with Tristan - Préludes for piano, tapes and orchestra of Hans Werner Henze (Sony Classic 09/2022). February 2023 saw the re-release of the complete recording of all Bruckner symphonies under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, honorary conductor of the Gewandhausorchester. The recordings, made between 2005 and 2012, are still considered reference recordings since their first release ten years ago (Accentus music).

Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the Gewandhausorchester

Pyotr Tchaikovsky himself considered his conducting debut with the Gewandhausorchester in January 1888 to have been the catalyst for the lasting recognition of his music in Germany: "...the fact that my music found its way into the Gewandhaus bolstered my self-confidence in no small measure, and it was a fine feeling and very beneficial to commence my German artistic journey in Leipzig, since this circumstance bestowed great weight upon my name." On the invitation of the Gewandhaus directorate, the first rehearsal with the Gewandhausorchester took place on 2 January 1888. Tchaikovsky led the orchestra in a performance of his Orchestral Suite No. 1 in D major, op. 48. He later wrote: "My timidness swiftly receded, the entire rehearsal proceeded most satisfactorily, and I was soon to be of the conviction that I was working with an orchestra of extraordinary quality." The German premiere of the Orchestral Suite took place on 5 January.

During the course of this extended concert tour, which also included appearances in Berlin, Magdeburg, Hamburg and Lübeck, Tchaikovsky returned to Leipzig twice. Here he was to encounter a great number of the most influential musicians of the day, who either lived in Leipzig or were currently working there: Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, Edvard Grieg, Carl Reinecke and Ethel Smyth. In the Opera he experienced both Arthur Nikisch and Gustav Mahler at the helm of the Gewandhausorchester. Tchaikovsky was particularly enthused by Nikisch's conducting: "...one obtains a true sense of what artistic heights this orchestra is capable when a genuine master of his craft such as Nikisch interprets the demanding scores of Richard Wagner." Mahler, in contrast, wasn't to make such a deep impression on Tchaikovsky until 1892, when he conducted the Russian's opera Eugen Onegin as kapellmeister at the opera in Hamburg.

Tchaikovsky's music was first heard in the Gewandhaus on 12 October 1876, in the form of his Lied ohne Worte and Humoreske for solo piano. Adolf Brodsky, the soloist of the world premiere of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, became a professor at the Leipzig Conservatoire in 1882. On 14 December of that year, on his Gewandhaus debut, Brodsky performed the first movement of that celebrated concerto.

SEASON 2022/2023