With Gustav Mahler, laughter and tears are often closely connected. As performed by Matthias Goerne, Andris Nelsons, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn showed this at the Lucerne Summer Festival in 2015. The gaiety of Rheinlegendchen is placed here with the tale of starvation in Das irdische Leben, and the satirical Fischpredigt of St. Anthony is juxtaposed with the march of the fallen soldiers in Revelge. Baritone Goerne shapes these songs with “introspection and narrative clarity”, while Nelsons “proves to be a sensitive accompanist”, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Nelsons conducts Mahler No. 5
Almost no other orchestra has been so involved with Gustav Mahler and established such an outstanding Mahler sound as the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. This tradition was continued in the summer of 2015. In his concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the renowned 37-year-old Andris Nelsons conducted Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work whose emotional spectrum ranges from the opening movement’s funeral march, through the declaration of love in the famous Adagietto – which Nelsons interpreted as an “intense chamber music love song in the passionate dimensions of Tristan” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) – to the jubilant hymn of the finale.
Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Located in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, Tanglewood is one of the world’s most beloved music festivals and serves as the summer home for the famed Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration festures the BSO, the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, under the direction of conductors Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, John Williams and David Zinman. Performers include pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and vocalist James Taylor, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver. Program: COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man; BERNSTEIN Three dance episodes from On the Town; Selections / Great American Songbook; HAYDN Piano Concerto in D, 2nd & 3rd movements; TCHAIKOVSKY Andante cantabile, for cello and strings; SARASATE Carmen Fantasy, for violin and orchestra; RAVEL La Valse; BEETHOVEN Choral Fantasy
Nelsons conducts Bruckner and Widman
The Gewandhaus season 2017/18 celebrates two momentous occasions: the investiture of Andris Nelsons to the position of the 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister and the 275th anniversary of the Gewandhausorchester’s founding. This festive concert with Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and a World Premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Partita promises to become one of the emotional highlights of the festival. PROGRAM Bruckner: Symphony No. 7; Widman: Partita
Andris Nelsons’ Inaugural Concert – Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
A new era in Leipzig has just begun: Andris Nelsons started his tenure as the 21st Gewandhaus conductor. The inaugural concert combined the world premiere of Relief, a new piece by composer Steffen Schleiermacher, with one of the most important premieres in the history of the orchestra. In March 1842, the Gewandhausorchester performed the famous Scottish Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy under the direction of the composer himself for the first time. In choosing this repertoire, Andris Nelsons pays tribute to the grand history of the city of Leipzig and its Gewandhausorchester. Alban Berg’s violin concerto, performed by Latvian Baiba Skride, works as a link between the decades. After Andris Nelsons’ first concert as the 21st Gewandhaus Kapellmeister, the Financial Times states: “the new partnership brims with artistic promise.” PROGRAM Schleiermacher: Relief for Orchestra; Berg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No.3
Nelsons conducts Mozart and Tchaikovsky
This concert is devoted to Andris Nelsons’ assumption of the position of Gewandhauskapellmeister. It marks the beginning of the highly promising Tchaikovsky cycle by Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester. Andris Nelsons: “Being appointed as the next Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester is a completely overwhelming honour. This extraordinary orchestra and its wonderful musicians are unique in so many respects, and particularly in their creation of an exceptional sound world based on outstanding tradition that is, at its heart, inspirational.” PROGRAM Mozart: Symphony K. 550; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6
Andris Nelsons conducts Dvorak
When Nelsons steps up to the podium of the Gewandhausorchester in March 2018 as its new musical director, Leipzig will indeed undergo a makeover. Apart from Felix Mendelssohn, his famous predecessor, he is the youngest conductor in the history of the orchestra beingthen only 37 years old. In this program Nelsons focuses on Dvorák – the “Otello” overture is followed by extracts from his opera Rusalka. Nelsons’ spouse, Kristine Opolais, takes over the arias of the title role, which she has already performed at the New York Met and the Bavarian State Opera. The fact that Nelsons also selected Dvorák’s 9th “From The New World” can be seen as a programmatic omen: Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester now enter new territory, so to speak, on a joint musical journey.
The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood
The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood spotlights Bernstein’s wide-ranging talents as a composer, his many gifts as a great interpreter and champion of other composers, and his role as an inspirer of a new generation of musicians and music lovers across the country and around the globe. The gala concert features a kaleidoscopic array of artists from the worlds of classical music, film, and Broadway. The entire first half of the program is dedicated to selections from such brilliant Bernstein works as Candide, West Side Story, Mass, and Serenade. Music from the classical canon very dear to Bernstein’s heart-selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and music by Copland – plus a new work by John Williams, makes up a good portion of the program’s second half; the finale of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2 brings the program to a dramatic close. 141 mins (including Bernstein at Tanglewood film + Video Greetings) /
127 mins (concert version only)
Memorial Concert for Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, who passed away on 20 January 2014 in Bologna, gave Lucerne Festival innumerable outstanding musical experiences. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra honors him with a special memorial concert at the Easter Festival. Opening the program is the first movement from SCHUBERT’s Unfinished Symphony, which Claudio Abbado conducted during his last performance in Lucerne in August 2013 — the final concert of his career. The program continues with Alban BERG’s Violin Concerto, which is dedicated “to the memory of an angel.” The soloist is Isabelle Faust, who recorded this very work with Claudio Abbado in 2011. To conclude the concert, the LFO performs the finale from Gustav MAHLER’s Third Symphony, which the composer originally planned to title “What love tells me.” Conductor is Andris Nelsons. (Cat. No. UNITEL: A955500020000)
Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler 2
At the Leipzig Mahler Festival 2023, the Gewandhausorchester under the baton of Music Director Andris Nelsons and together with soloists Nicola Hillebrand and Gerhild Romberger as well as the MDR-Rundfunkchor, present a rousing performance of Gustav Mahler’s Second (“Resurrection”), gauging the full rollercoaster of musical extremes between death and resurrection.