This October, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he serves as Music Director, in a series of concerts showcasing the full breadth of classical music.

The first two programs this month will be a part of the BSO in 1900 series, which celebrates the building of Symphony Hall, a feat of artistic, civic, and scientific breakthroughs. 

On October 2, 3, and 4, Nelsons and the orchestra will present a program of music written around 1900: Debussy’s Nocturnes and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Completed in 1899, Nocturnes exemplifies the French impressionist movement, evoking colorful and vivid soundscapes in its three movements. Boston’s acclaimed Lorelei Ensemble will join the orchestra for the ethereal final movement. Soprano Nikola Hillebrand sings the soprano solo in Mahler’s transcendent Fourth Symphony, the most intimate and moving of his often dark symphonic works. 

Nelsons and the orchestra play Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis on October 9, 10, and 11, the piece that opened Symphony Hall. One of the world’s most beloved and profound sacred choral works, Missa Solemnis will feature the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, alongside soloists Eleanor Lyons, Wiebeke Lehmkuhl, Klaus Florian Vogt, and Franz-Josef Selig. 

Later in the month, Nelsons and the BSO welcome its 2025-26 artist in residence, violinist Augustin Hadelich, who will be featured in John Adams’ energetic Violin Concerto. Composed in 1993, the Violin Concerto combines Adams’ signature minimalism with romantic lyricism, and is now considered a modern classic. In the second half, the orchestra will play Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, which traces a dramatic journey from darkness to triumph, built around a recurring “fate theme.” The program plays October 16, 17, and 18.