This week, Andris Nelsons leads his first performances as the 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig with violinist Baiba Skride and the Gewandhausorchester on February 22, 23 & 25. The programme features the world premiere of Steffen Schleiermacher’s Relief für Orchester, Alban Berg’s poignant Violin Concerto, and Anton Bruckner’s tremendous Symphony No. 7.

The inaugural celebrations hosted at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig will continue on March 1 & 2, when trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger joins Maestro Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester for a programme featuring Siegfried’s Tod und Trauermarsch by Wagner, Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Trumpet Concerto: “Nobody knows de trouble I see,” and Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 8.

Another world premiere will be performed on March 3 as part of a Family Concert – Aristides Strongylis’ Engel der Hoffnung, a commission by the Gewandhausorchester, is to be presented alongside works by Bach, Mozart, and Wagner.

The Gewandhausorchester’s 275^th Anniversary is to be commemorated on March 11; in recognition of this historic event, Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester showcase a world premiere by Jörg Widmann: Partita. Fünf Reminiszenzen für großes Orchester, and will again perform Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 on March 8, 9, and 11. This celebratory occasion also signifies the continuation of the Bruckner cycle recording collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon.

The inaugural celebration at the Gewandhaus concludes on March 15 & 16 by once again looking into the future with eyes on the past, with the world premiere of Thomas Clarcher’s Chiasma for orchestra, presented alongside Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 KV 550 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique” ).