Andris Nelsons Leads Boston Symphony Orchestra In Three Carnegie Hall Concerts 4/11-13

Now in his fourth season as Music Director, Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in three concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage over three consecutive evenings in April. The concerts kick off with a celebration of the Leonard Bernstein centenary on Wednesday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m. with Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, "The Age of Anxiety," featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the BSO's 2017-2018 Artist-in-Residence. The work is paired with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 in C Minor.

The following evening on Thursday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. Mr. Nelsons leads the BSO and an accomplished operatic cast in Act II of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Performed as an opera in concert, the cast is helmed by Jonas Kaufmann as Tristan-making his debut in the role with these performances-and Camilla Nylund as Isolde. The full cast is listed below.

In the BSO's final performance at Carnegie Hall this season, on Friday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m., BSO Principal Violist Steven Ansell and cellist Yo-Yo Ma are featured in Richard Strauss's Don Quixote. The program also includes the New York premiere of a Jörg Widmann's Partita: Five Reminiscences for Orchestra along with Mozart's Symphony No. 23 in D Major. A pre-concert talk will be held at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with Paul Berry, Adjunct Associate Professor of Music History at Yale University.

About the Artists
In 2017-2018, the BSO's Ray and Maria Stata Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in twelve wide-ranging subscription programs at Symphony Hall. Also this season, Nelsons and the orchestra toured Japan together for the first time, playing concerts in Nagoya, Osaka, Kawasaki, and Tokyo, Japan. In addition, in February 2018, Maestro Nelsons became Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, in which capacity he will bring both orchestras together for a unique multi-dimensional alliance; under his direction, the BSO celebrated its first "Leipzig Week in Boston" that same month.

The fifteenth music director in the history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons made his BSO debut at Carnegie Hall in March 2011, his Tanglewood debut in July 2012, and his BSO subscription series debut in January 2013. His first CD with the BSO-live recordings of Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture and Sibelius's Symphony No. 2-was released in November 2014 on BSO Classics. April 2017 brought the release on BSO Classics of the four Brahms symphonies with Maestro Nelsons, which was recorded live at Symphony Hall. In an ongoing, multi-year collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon initiated in 2014-2015, he and the BSO are making live recordings of Shostakovich's complete symphonies, the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and other works by the composer. The first release in this series (the Symphony No. 10 and the Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance and Gramophone magazine's Orchestral Award. The second release (symphonies 5, 8, and 9, plus excerpts from Shostakovich's 1932 incidental music to Hamlet) won the 2017 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance. Also for Deutsche Grammophon, Andris Nelsons is recording the Bruckner symphonies with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic.

This season, Andris Nelsons is artist-in-residence at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and continues his regular collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic, leading that orchestra on tour to China. He also maintains regular collaborations with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Maestro Nelsons has also been a regular guest at the Bayreuth Festival and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he conducts a new David Alden production of Lohengrin this season. Born in Riga in 1978 into a family of musicians, Andris Nelsons began his career as a trumpeter in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra before studying conducting. He was music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2015, principal conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany, from 2006 to 2009, and music director of Latvian National Opera from 2003 to 2007. Mr. Nelsons is the subject of a 2013 DVD from Orfeo, a documentary film entitled Andris Nelsons: Genius on Fire.

Now in its 137th season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert in 1881, realizing the dream of its founder, the Civil War veteran/businessman/philanthropist Henry Lee Higginson, who envisioned a great and permanent orchestra in his hometown of Boston. The BSO made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1893. Today, the BSO reaches millions of listeners, not only through its concert performances in Boston and at Tanglewood, but also via the internet, radio, television, educational programs, recordings, and tours. It commissions works from today's most important composers; its summer season at Tanglewood is among the world's most important music festivals; it helps develop future audiences through BSO Youth Concerts and educational outreach programs involving the entire Boston community; and, during the Tanglewood season, it operates the Tanglewood Music Center, one of the world's most important training grounds for young professional-caliber musicians. The Boston Symphony Chamber Players, made up of BSO principals, are known worldwide, and the Boston Pops Orchestra sets an international standard for performances of lighter music.

In May 2013, a new chapter in the history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was initiated when the internationally acclaimed young Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons was announced as the BSO's next music director, a position he took up in the 2014-2015 season, following a year as music director designate. In 2016-2017, the British composer-conductor-pianist Thomas Adès became the BSO's first-ever Artistic Partner, a position he will hold through the summer of 2019.

Program Information
Wednesday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Andris Nelsons, Music Director and Conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano

Leonard Bernstein Symphony No. 2, "The Age of Anxiety"
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43

Sponsored by KPMG LLP

Tickets: $49-$161
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Thursday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Andris Nelsons, Music Director and Conductor
Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor (Tristan)
Camilla Nylund, Soprano (Isolde)
Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-Soprano (Brangäne)
Georg Zeppenfeld, Bass (Marke)
Andrew Rees, Tenor (Melot)
David Kravitz, Baritone (Kurwenal)

Richard Wagner Tristan und Isolde, Act II (OPERA IN CONCERT)

This concert performance is generously underwritten by Robert L. Turner.

Tickets: $51-$185
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Friday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Andris Nelsons, Music Director and Conductor
Steven Ansell, Viola
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 23 in D Major, K. 181
JÖRG WIDMANN Partita: Five Reminiscences for Orchestra (NY Premiere)
Richard Strauss Don Quixote, Op. 35

Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 PM in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with Paul Berry, Adjunct Associate Professor of Music History, Yale University.

Tickets: $51-$170

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
Ticket Information
Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office on 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.