Gewandhausorchester Reaffirms Boston Connection on 2014 U.S. tour

When the musicians of Leipzig Gewandhausorchester last visited Boston in 2010, they left music aficionados and critics elated. Reviewers called their performance the “concert of the season” and “the best Beethoven in town.”

Now on their 2014 tour of the U.S., the fabled musicians from Leipzig again make a celebrated stopover in Boston as part of the city’s prestigious Celebrity Series. The orchestra will perform with conductor Riccardo Chailly and violin soloist Nikolaj Znaider on Friday, November 7, 2014, at Symphony Hall.

The venue holds special significance for the world’s oldest civic symphony orchestra. In a way, it’s even a kind of musical homecoming.

Constructed in 1900, the building is a national historic landmark in the U.S. and was designed by American Beaux-Arts architect Charles Follen McKim. He modeled it closely on the Gewandhausorchester’s former home, the original Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, from which the ensemble derives its name. Although that building was destroyed during World War II, its spirit lives on in its acoustically acclaimed architectural “descendent”, the Symphony Hall, which to this day is widely considered to be one of the top concert halls in the world.

It is also home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), which earlier this year appointed Ken-David Masur as its new assistant conductor. He made his BSO conducting debut in 2012 sharing the podium with his father, Kurt Masur, who served as Kappellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester from 1970 to 1996.
 
Another great figure in the orchestra’s distinguished line of music directors is Arthur Nikisch, who conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1889-1993 before becoming Gewandhauskappelmeister in Leipzig in 1895 – a post he held until his death in 1922. During the Gewandhausorchester’s visit to Boston in 2010, the orchestra’s current conductor, Maestro Riccardo Chailly, and the touring musicians enjoyed meeting with a particularly interesting guest amidst their enthusiastic audience - Curt Nikisch, a great great nephew of the famed Hungarian conductor.  

This year’s performance celebrates 40 years of regular guest appearances of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in the United States. The Celebrity Series presented the Boston debut of Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in 1974 as part of their first-ever United States tour.

As Official Logistics Partner to the Gewandhausorchester, DHL transports the entire orchestral equipment and manages customs clearance formalities for its tours throughout Europe, Asia and America. Providing fine-tuned orchestration behind the scenes is part and parcel of DHL’s services, ensuring that the orchestra’s deep-seated connections continue to grow – across the Atlantic and around the globe – for generations to come.

Performers:

Gewandhausorchester
Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Nikolaj Znaider, violin

Program:

November 7, 2014 – Boston – Symphony Hall

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) - Overture, op 26, MWV P 7
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, op. 107, “Reformation Symphony”