Boston Symphony & Gewandhausorchester Leipzig to Launch Shostakovich Festival Leipzig

Hosted in 2025, the festival will feature all 15 Shostakovich symphonies, all 6 concerti, all 15 string quartets, the opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," and more

The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (GHO) will come together to launch a new joint venture in 2025. Between May 15 and June 1, the two orchestras and their shared Music Director Andris Nelsons will embark on a broad survey of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich. The event, which will be named the Shostakovich Festival Leipzig, will also mark the fiftieth anniversary of the composer's death.

Over the course of the festival, the two orchestras will perform all 15 Shostakovich symphonies, as well as the 6 concerti — which will feature soloists such as violinist Baiba Skride, pianist Daniil Trifonov, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and soprano Kristine Opolais.

In addition, a third orchestra will be created for the festival — which will comprise players from the BSO’s Tanglewood Music Center, the GHO’s Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy training programs, and students from Leipzig’s University of Music and Theatre. This group will be led by ex-BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina.

Repertoire from the other parts of Shostakovich's oeuvre will also feature, including the complete 15 string quartets played by the Quatuor Danel — plus other chamber music, film screenings, the 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 87 (played by Yulianna Avdeeva), vocal and choral music, and more. Nelsons will also lead two performances of the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

"We are staging this festival in celebration of the life and work of an extraordinary composer, whose life, due to the political and social upheavals of his time, was in constant danger," said Andris Nelsons, Music Director of the BSO and Kapellmeister of the GHO.

"Shostakovich’s music reflects all the facets and abysses of human existence: from anguish and darkness to biting irony and sarcasm, but also childlike, playful joy and burgeoning hope," he continued. "Shostakovich allows us to share in his personal fate, in his fears and in all that threatened him — dangers that are a tragic reality for so many people today. Therefore, we want to share this cosmos with our audience, with all the emotions, issues, and questions that it will provoke within us."

"Andris Nelsons and the BSO’s decade-long exploration of the music of Dmitri Shostakovich has demonstrated how urgently and eloquently this music speaks to our times," said Chad Smith, the BSO's President and CEO. "We are pleased again to join forces with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig to reaffirm this music’s enduring messages of humanism and hope amid adversity."