Since 2017, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have been artistic partners, collaborating extensively on programming, personnel development, and training. Find out more about the unique alliance of these two renowned orchestras.
Under the direction of Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and Gewandhausorchester (GHO) alliance is a new multidimensional collaboration designed to create opportunities for these two orchestras and their respective audiences to explore each ensemble & unique world of music-making and discover the great traditions and historic accomplishments that have played an important role in building their reputations as two of the worlds great orchestras.
In addition, the programs of the BSO/GHO alliance will celebrate the shared mutual heritage of these two orchestras, while also shedding light on the overall culture of each ensemble and the cities they are proud to call home.
I am incredibly grateful to all my colleagues at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester for coming together with me in a spirit of great camaraderie to create a new and absolutely unique partnership in music-making.
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Gewandhausorchester Musician Exchange Program
Another highlight of the BSO/GHO Alliance is a musician exchange program offering musicians from each orchestra a rare opportunity to spend 3-6 months performing with its partner orchestra in the latter’s home city.
Read MoreBelow are the upcoming concerts in the current season which are part of the alliance. These include concerts which include alliance commissions, ‘Boston Week in Leipzig’ or ‘Leipzig Week in Boston’, and joint concerts.
Shostakovich Festival
From 15 May to 1 June 2025, Leipzig will host one of the most comprehensive examinations of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, on the 50th anniversary of his death.
Under the direction of Gewandhauskapellmeister and Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons, and conductor Anna Rakitina, the festival will feature Shostakovich’s entire cycle of symphonies. Furthermore, Nelsons and Rakitina will be joined by world-class artists including Daniil Trifonov, Baiba Skride, and Gautier Capuçon for all of Shostakovich’s concertos, who will also perform a wealth of chamber music programmes. Andris Nelsons will complete the programme by conducting two performances of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” at the Leipzig Opera.
Shostakovich’s groundbreaking music will be performed by the Gewandhausorchester, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Festival Orchestra – founded especially for the festival, comprising members of the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.
The festival will also be preceded by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Europe tour, which will encompass concerts in Vienna, Riga, and Prague, with an all-Shostakovich programme under the direction of Andris Nelsons.
For more information and the complete programme, please visit https://www.gewandhausorchester.de/en/shostakovich/
Leipzig, Germany
TicketsThe BSO/GHO Alliance, under the leadership of Andris Nelsons, features a series of co-commissions, with new works presented each year of the partnership, starting with works by German composer Jörg Widmann and American composer Sean Shepherd which premiered in Boston and Leipzig in the 2017-18 season.