Andris Nelsons

Andris Nelsons

Dominant alpha males or sensitive organisers: conductors are very different – and one might think that the profession has been around forever. Compared to many others, however, it is still relatively young: it only emerged in the 19th century. Before that, only one of the players or the composer himself made a few hand gestures from the piano. But during the Romantic period in particular, the ensembles became larger and larger and the scores became more complex. A person was now needed to coordinate everything in order to avoid chaos. Mendelssohn is regarded as the first conductor in today’s understanding of the term, who set the standard as Gewandhauskapellmeister. He was followed by other big names in Leipzig, including Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt. Since 2018, Andris Nelsons has been holding the strings together there – but he also loves conducting our orchestra, and we are delighted that he is coming back to Bamberg. Because he is a phenomenon: he lives, breathes and loves music – and celebrates this with an unmistakable trademark of virtually painted lines, conveying strong emotions. The programme he has chosen combines dance works from East and West – after all, music is a wonderful means of building bridges across borders: His Latvian compatriot Arturs Maskats wrote an exciting tango in 2002, while Carlos Simon wrote the colourful »Four Black American Dances« in 2022. There is also a beguiling feast for the ears with Rimsky-Korsakov’s caleidoscope about the storyteller Scheherazade – and Andris Nelsons will certainly conduct again in the same way as he once mentioned in an interview: »Ultimately, you have to follow your heart, that’s where the impulse comes from.«

Gewandhausorchester & Andris Nelsons

Gewandhausorchester & Andris Nelsons

Festivalorchester & Andris Nelsons

Gewandhausorchester & Andris Nelsons

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons Dirigent

Three good reasons to go to a concert: Love for music, emotional escape, and feeling inspired. Three secret reasons: alibi for mother-in-law's birthday, wrong Valentine's Day gift, and cheaper alternative to Beethoven. Three reasons for this concert: sentimental trumpet solos, family preferences (Mendelssohn, Nelsons, Jussen brothers), and the rarity of Mendelssohn's and Mahler's pieces.

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons Dirigent

Three good reasons to go to a concert: Love for music, emotional escape, and feeling inspired. Three secret reasons: alibi for mother-in-law's birthday, wrong Valentine's Day gift, and cheaper alternative to Beethoven. Three reasons for this concert: sentimental trumpet solos, family preferences (Mendelssohn, Nelsons, Jussen brothers), and the rarity of Mendelssohn's and Mahler's pieces.

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons Dirigent

Three good reasons to go to a concert: Love for music, emotional escape, and feeling inspired. Three secret reasons: alibi for mother-in-law's birthday, wrong Valentine's Day gift, and cheaper alternative to Beethoven. Three reasons for this concert: sentimental trumpet solos, family preferences (Mendelssohn, Nelsons, Jussen brothers), and the rarity of Mendelssohn's and Mahler's pieces.

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons Dirigent

A lively hunting king scares away the game with his boastful pelvic roar, but demands a solitary violin beauty, beginning a tale of murder, percussion-slaying, grave desecration, miraculous revival through brass chorales, gruesome revenge, and a pompous wedding. Dvořák's music expresses the full spectrum of emotions from thrilling rhythms and orchestral colors to tender harp-woodwind love episodes, dramatic fortissimo fury, dark bass abysses, and uplifting melodies. Mahler's 4th Symphony leads into a hellish heaven three years later, with diabolical otherworldly scenarios humorously conjured by the Wunderhorn song "Das himmlische Leben". While hypocritical saints merrily slaughter, Death grabs a detuned violin from the fiddle-filled sky. After experiencing these fable purgatories and hellish heavens, you might conclude Earth is quite comfortable, especially as it's blessed with Mahler and Dvořák's music.

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons Dirigent

FROHE BOTSCHAFT? Als Thomas Adès 1999 mit America – A Prophecy den Auftrag Kurt Masurs für New York Philharmonic erfüllte, war er selbst überrascht, wie düster ihm die Musik geriet. Keine heroische Vision einer stolzen Nation floss ihm aus der Feder, sondern ein verzweifelter Aufschrei im Angesicht der Apokalypse. Masur, der einen optimistischen Beitrag zur Reihe musikalischer »Messages for the Millenium« erhofft hatte, stockte der Atem. Gewaltiger Erfolg bei Publikum und Presse zeigte: Der 27 Jahre junge Komponist und sein kühner Premierendirigent trafen einen Nerv der Zeit. Mit den Terroranschlägen des 11. September 2001 schien die Prophecy von Adès’ Orchesterwerk schließlich auf verstörende Weise Realität zu werden. Seitdem ringt Adès mit einem dritten, ins Positive gewandten Teil. Kann das dieser Tage gelingen? Die krisengeschüttelte Welt hätte es nötiger denn je. STERNSTUNDE Weniger astronomische als astrologische Phänomene hatte der Mädchenschullehrer, Wochenendkomponist und Hobbysterndeuter Holst im Sinn, als er den Teilen seiner großartigen Orchestersuite Planetennamen verlieh. Sieben Sätze umfasst der Zyklus: Im Zentrum strahlt die fulminante Klangpracht Jupiters, des größten Planeten unseres Sonnensystems. Um ihn kreisen der infernalisch aufmarschierende Mars – komponiert kurz vor Ausbruch des 1. Weltkriegs – und die betörende Venus. Dem eilig dahinhuschenden Merkur folgen Saturn, der mit Harfe, Heckelphon, Altflöte und Glocken überrascht, der bezaubernde Uranus und der sonnen- und erdferne Neptun. In dessen mystische Musik mischen sich menschliche Stimmen und beschwören wortlos den Zustand kosmischer Harmonie.