Shostakovich Festival 2025: Gewandhaus establishes orchestra

For the Shostakovich Festival 2025, the Leipzig Gewandhaus plans to create a new orchestra. The festival orchestra will be made up of members of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and students from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy," said Gewandhaus artistic director Andreas Schulz on Tuesday at the presentation of the festival program in Leipzig. The focus of the festival should be the Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, who is chief conductor of the orchestras in Leipzig and Boston.

The composers' festival will take place from May 15 to June 1, 2025, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). Shostakovich became world-famous with the opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," which premiered in 1935. As part of the festival, two performances of the opera are also planned under the direction of Nelsons, including at the Leipzig Opera.

In addition to Nelsons, the Russian conductor Anna Rakitina will also take over the direction of the orchestra. According to the Gewandhaus, the 34-year-old is considered one of the most sought-after conductors of the younger generation. Nelsons has reportedly recorded all of Shostakovich's symphonies and "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk."

The festival is also an opportunity to exchange musical ideas, Boston Symphony Orchestra President and Executive Director Chad Smith said. A total of 45 concerts are planned, according to the statement. The last time Leipzig hosted the Mahler Festival was in May 2023.