Andris Nelsons
Andris Nelsons has held major conducting posts on both the concert and operatic stages, and in each realm, has distinguished himself as an incisive interpreter of a broad range of music. Whether conducting Puccini at the Met, Wagner at Bayreuth, or Stravinsky with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Nelsons has managed to win over both critics and the public alike. He is the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. In 2022, Nelsons led the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in the latest installment of their survey of Bruckner's symphonies on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Nelsons was born in Riga, Latvia, on November 18, 1978. His parents and stepfather were musicians, and at an early age, Nelsons studied piano but took up the trumpet at 12. He later sang in his mother's early music ensemble and played trumpet in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra. After local studies, Nelsons began studying conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Alexander Titov. In 2002, he began studying privately with famed conductor Mariss Jansons. Nelsons' orchestral repertory includes large portions of Mozart, Mahler, and Shostakovich. His operatic repertory takes in much Wagner and Puccini, as well as Bizet, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss.
Nelsons has conducted around the globe, including throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan. He served as principal conductor of the Latvian National Opera from 2003-2007. In 2006, he took on a second important post, this one as chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, a position he held until 2009. From 2007, Nelsons began making regular appearances in the U.K., and that September was named music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, beginning in the 2008-2009 season. He held this post until the conclusion of the 2014-2015 season. 2009 saw Nelsons' debut at the Met, leading a performance of Puccini's Turandot. The following year, Nelsons made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival with a production of Wagner's Lohengrin; this followed a concert performance given in Birmingham with the City of Birmingham Symphony. In 2011, a highly praised reading of Mahler's Ninth Symphony at Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra marked two more important debuts for Nelsons; this was his first performance at Carnegie Hall and his first time leading the Boston Symphony. Nelsons was named the Boston Symphony's 15th music director in 2014, after several years of guest conducting. In 2018, Nelsons was named the 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister (music director) of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.
Nelsons has an exclusive recording contract with the Deutsche Grammophon label but has also recorded for Decca and Orfeo, among others. He has continued to receive acclaim for his recordings, especially those of his continuing surveys of the symphonies of Shostakovich, with the Boston Symphony, and Bruckner (which is paired with music by Wagner), with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. In 2020, Nelsons received contract extensions with both groups: the Boston Symphony until 2025 and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig until 2027. Nelsons led the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig on a recording of Bruckner's first and fifth symphonies with Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde in 2022.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 12 & 13
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct 20, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns
Lang Lang, Gina Alice, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Feb 29, 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9; Suite From "Hamlet" (Live)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Symphonies - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on May 27, 2016
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich : Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 "The Year 1905" (Live)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Symphonies - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jul 6, 2018
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceGrammy Awards24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: The Symphonies
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by BSO Classics on Apr 21, 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich Under Stalin's Shadow - Symphony No. 10 (Live)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Symphonies - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jul 31, 2015
Gramophone Award24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony in D Minor "No. 0, Die Nullte" – Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer Overture; Rienzi Overture
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct 26, 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich : Symphonies 6 & 7 - Incidental Music (Live 2017, Boston)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Symphonic Music - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Feb 22, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss
Andris Nelsons, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on May 6, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 0-9 – Wagner: Orchestral Music
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct 26, 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1, 14 & 15; Chamber Symphony in C Minor
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jun 25, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Johannes Brahms : Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat, Op.83 (Studio Master pour ce seul concerto enregistré au Musikverein de Vienne) (Live At Musikverein, Vienna / 2012)
Hélène Grimaud, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss : Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan...
City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Symphonic Poems - Released by Orfeo on Apr 7, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 / Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Feb 16, 2018
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák & Schumann: Piano Concertos
Stephen Hough, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct 4, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sofia Gubaidulina – Dialog: Ich und Du; The Wrath of God; The Light of the End
Vadim Repin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct 22, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 / Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Symphonic Music - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on May 5, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 8 / Wagner: Meistersinger Prelude
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Feb 5, 2021
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 9 – Wagner: Siegfried Idyll / Parsifal Prelude
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on May 3, 2019
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 / Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Feb 11, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo