The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO performs most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at Tanglewood.
Kurt Masur was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic for about ten years. He made many recordings of classical music with major orchestras. Masur is also remembered for his actions to support peaceful demonstrations against the East German government in the 1989 demonstrations in Leipzig; those protests were part of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin wall.
Riccardo Chailly is an Italian conductor. He is currently music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and of La Scala. Prior to this, he held chief conducting positions at the Gewandhausorchester (2005–2016); the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1988–2004); the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (1982–1988); and the Teatro Comunale of Bologna (1986–1993). He was also the first musical director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (1999–2005) and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–1986).
Arthur Nikisch was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt. Johannes Brahms praised Nikisch's performance of his Fourth Symphony as "quite exemplary, it's impossible to hear it any better."
Fabio Vacchi is an Italian composer.
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics.
Andris Nelsons is a Latvian conductor. He is currently music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He was previously music director of the Latvian National Opera, chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice.
Christoph Genz is a German tenor in opera and concert.
Morten Schuldt-Jensen is a Danish classical conductor.
Martin Petzold was a German classical tenor who performed internationally in opera and concert. He was for decades a member of the Leipzig Opera, performing more than 80 roles such as Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, David in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Toni in Henze's Elegie für junge Liebende. A member of the Thomanerchor as a boy, he was particularly known for the part of the Evangelist in oratorios and Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Partita, five reminiscences for large orchestra is a collection of musical pieces by Jörg Widmann. It was written for the 275th anniversary of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 2018.
MDR Rundfunkchor is the radio choir of the German broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), based in Leipzig, Saxony. Dating back to 1924, the choir became the radio choir of a predecessor of the MDR in 1946, then called Kammerchor des Senders Leipzig, or Rundfunkchor Leipzig. The present name was established in 1992. The choir has appeared internationally, and has made award-winning recordings.
Karl Ottomar Treibmann was a German composer and music educator. From 1981 until his retirement in 2001, he was professor of music theory and Tonsatz at the Leipzig University. He was one of the representatives of modernity in the German Democratic Republic, whose great major works can be found in the areas of opera, symphony and chamber music.
Hans-Christian Bartel was a German violist and composer.
Frank-Michael Erben is a German violinist and conductor. He is the first concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and plays the first violin in the Gewandhaus Quartet.
Stephan König is a German composer, pianist and conductor. He is the musical director of the "LeipJAZZig-Orkester" and the chamber orchestra "artentfaltung" and is considered one of the most authoritative Jazz musicians in Leipzig.
The Leipziger Symphonieorchester (LSO) is a German symphony orchestra based in the town of Böhlen near Leipzig. It is the symphony orchestra of the districts of Leipzig and Nordsachsen.
Olena Mykolajiwna Tokar is a Ukrainian operatic lyric soprano. She has been a member of the Oper Leipzig since 2010, and has appeared in Europe including at the Verbier Festival as Puccini's Mimì, at the Vilnius Opera as Gounod's Marguerite, as Verdi's La traviata at the Trondheim Opera, and as Gounod's Juliette at the Grange Park Opera. She recorded a collection of art songs by women composers including Clara Schumann and Vítězslava Kaprálová, with pianist Igor Gryshyn.
Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI) is a trumpet concerto by German composer Jörg Widmann. It was composed in 2021 and premiered on 23 September 2021 by soloist Håkan Hardenberger and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conducted by Andris Nelsons at Gewandhaus.
