Nelsons Shostakovich 10

In this installment in 'an ongoing Shostakovich survey that has rightly won him three Grammy Awards' (New York Times), Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra bookend the composer's brilliant, often turbulent symphonic career. Nearly half a century lies between Shostakovich's triumphant debut with the 'First', premiered before his 20th birthday, and the 'Fifteenth', an inventory of influences written under the shadow of his own mortality. Penned just two years earlier, the 'Fourteenth' is a symphonic song cycle, and the Chamber Symphony is a skillful adaptation of that tragic masterpiece, the Eighth String Quartet.

In this latest installment of their acclaimed Shostakovich cycle, Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra explore the composer’s shifting identity and political convictions under the Soviet regime, tracing with the four symphonies on this album a 35-year span in Shostakovich’s creative and personal evolution: from youthful idealism to mature disillusionment and resignation. The orchestra and its Musical Director are joined by bass-baritone Matthias Goerne who gives an impressive performance of the “Babi Yar” solos in Symphony No. 13. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus (chorus master: James Burton) gives a strong support in the choral parts of Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 13, and are joining powers in the mighty Symphony No. 13 with the New England Conservatory Symphonic Choir (chorus master: Erica J. Washburn).

The Summer Night Concert will be performed this year on June 7. It is an annual open-air event, which has been held since 2004 in the magical setting of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna/Austria. The illustrious conductors who have previously led the orchestra at this event are Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Andris Nelsons.

The Summer Night Concert will be performed this year on June 7. It is an annual open-air event, which has been held since 2004 in the magical setting of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna/Austria. The illustrious conductors who have previously led the orchestra at this event are Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Andris Nelsons.