This spring, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he is Music Director, in a month-long festival that explores the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Through a series of concerts and special events, audiences will learn how Shostakovich folded messages of resistance into his music and what kept the composer writing—and resisting—in a turbulent time. 

On April 10, Nelsons conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 and his gripping Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905. On April 11, the BSO pairs The Year 1905 with Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, featuring beloved cellist Yo-Yo Ma—a program that will be repeated on April 24 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. On April 17, 18, and 19, acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins the BSO for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, followed by Shostakovich’s final Symphony, No 15. Nelsons, Uchida, and the BSO will also play that program at Carnegie Hall on April 23. 

Nelsons and the BSO return to Boston on April 26 and 27 for a program featuring the world premiere of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Love Canticles for chorus and orchestra (a BSO commission), as well as Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Shostakovich’s elegant Symphony No. 6. On May 2 and 3, Latvian violinist Baiba Skride joins Nelsons and the BSO for an all-Shostakovich program, highlighting his klezmer music-inspired Violin Concerto No. 1 and his Symphony No. 8.