ANDRIS NELSONS TO HOLD PRESS AND AUDIENCE Q&A EVENT IN SYMPHONY HALL (11 A.M.), AT WHICH HE WILL FORMALLY SIGN HIS CONTRACT AS THE 15TH MUSIC DIRECTOR OF THE BSO; MR. NELSONS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED NUMBER OF ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEWS 2-3 P.M.

CITY OF BOSTON TO OFFICIALLY WELCOME ANDRIS NELSONS WITH CEREMONY AT FANEUIL HALL AND ISSUANCE OF PROCLAMATION DECLARING JUNE 25, 2013 “ANDRIS NELSONS DAY” IN THE CITY OF BOSTON (5 P.M.); FOLLOWING THE PROCLAMATION PRESENTATION MR. NELSONS WILL LEAD A SHORT PERFORMANCE WITH BRASS PLAYERS OF THE BSO AND POPS

ANDRIS NELSONS TO THROW FIRST PITCH AT RED SOX GAME AT FENWAY PARK AND LEAD BRASS ENSEMBLE OF BSO AND POPS MUSICIANS IN PRE-GAME FANFARE
(approximately 6:45 P.M.)

For downloadable photos, video, and audio of Andris Nelsons with the BSO,
as well as a bio, BSO history, and BSO music director list, click here.
NOTE: Photos, video, and audio clips are for press use only. Press outlets may only use up to
three (3) minutes total of video or audio for broadcast or online.

In his first visit to Boston since his appointment as the next music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons will visit Boston on Tuesday, June 25, for a series of events in Symphony Hall, Faneuil Hall, and Fenway Park (click here to view May 2013 announcement). Mr. Nelsons will begin his day in Boston at 11 a.m. on the Symphony Hall stage with a Q&A session with press and an audience made up of BSO subscribers, leadership, and musicians from the BSO, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. At this event, Mr. Nelsons will formally sign his contract as the 15th music director of the BSO in front of the audience. Following an introductory lunch to introduce Andris Nelsons for first time to members of the BSO Board of Trustees and Overseers and major BSO supporters, Mr. Nelsons will be available for a limited number of one-on-one interviews (2-3 p.m.); to request an interview please respond to this email or call 617-638-9280. Mr. Nelsons will end his visit to Boston with two public appearances, at Faneuil Hall and Fenway Park.

In a special event at Faneuil Hall at 5 p.m., Andris Nelsons will be presented with a Proclamation declaring June 25 “Andris Nelsons Day” in the City of Boston. Mr. Nelsons will then lead a group of BSO and Pops brass players in a special performance. Mr. Nelsons will end his day in Boston with his first visit to Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch and lead a brass ensemble before the start of the game between the Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies.

“It is with the greatest joy that I truly look forward to joining the BSO’s wonderful musical family and getting to know the beautiful city of Boston and the community that so clearly loves its great orchestra,” said Andris Nelsons. “Though my first visit to Boston since being appointed the next music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will be a short one, it will be wonderful to start my journey towards embracing the community of Boston and getting to know the many passionate and dedicated people—musicians, donors, management, and leadership—who work together towards making the BSO the great orchestra it is today.”

“We are thrilled to have this chance to introduce Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony’s newly appointed music director, to our BSO family and the community of Boston on June 25,” said Mark Volpe, BSO Managing Director. “Andris has made it absolutely clear that he is passionate about the city of Boston and very much looks forward to experiencing the community with his wife, Kristine Opolais, and their 18-month-old daughter Adriana, when he begins his tenure in the fall of 2014. Andris’s June 25 visit will be the perfect start of what we all know will be a vibrant new relationship between Andris and the orchestra and the city of Boston.”

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR TUESDAY, JUNE 25:
ANDRIS NELSONS’ FIRST VISIT TO BOSTON SINCE BEING APPOINTED THE NEXT MUSIC DIRECTOR OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

11:00 a.m. – NOON.: at Symphony Hall
First Q&A session held by Andris Nelsons since his appointment as BSO Music Director

Andris Nelsons will be introduced to press, BSO subscribers, leadership, and musicians by BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe and Chairman of the BSO Board of Trustees Ted Kelly.

12:30-2 p.m. at Symphony Hall
Lunch to introduce Andris Nelsons for first time to members of the BSO Board of Trustees and Overseers and major BSO supporters

2:00-3 p.m. at Symphony Hall
One-on-one interviews with Andris Nelsons with members of the press

To request an interview please respond to this email or call 617-638-9280.

5:00-5:30 p.m. at Faneuil Hall
In Andris Nelsons’ first public appearance in Boston since being appointed BSO Music Director, he will be presented with a Proclamation declaring Tuesday, June 25, “Andris Nelsons Day” in the City of Boston

Mr. Nelsons to lead a short performance with brass players of the BSO and Pops

6:45 p.m. at Red Sox game at Fenway Park
Andris Nelsons to throw first pitch at Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies Game and lead short pre-game performance with BSO and Pops brass players

DETAILS FROM MAY 16 ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANDRIS NELSONS AS NEXT BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR
On May 16, Andris Nelsons was appointed the 15th Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since its founding in 1881. At 34 years old, Andris Nelsons is the youngest music director to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in over 100 years; he is also the first Latvian-born conductor to take on the post. Andris Nelsons will take on the title of BSO Music Director in the 2014-15 season for an initial five year commitment, leading 8-10 weeks of programs during the BSO’s 2014-15 subscription season in Symphony Hall in Boston; he will lead 12 weeks of programs each subsequent year of the five-year contract. Mr. Nelsons will also lead several programs each season at Tanglewood, the orchestra’s summer music festival in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts.

Maestro Nelsons will act as BSO Music Director Designate for the BSO’s 2013-14 season, making his first appearance in that official capacity October 17-19, leading Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, with soloist Paul Lewis, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3; he returns to the BSO podium on March 6, 2014 to lead a performance of Strauss’s Salome. Prior to his Symphony Hall engagements as BSO Music Director Designate next fall and winter, Mr. Nelsons will make an appearance at Tanglewood on July 27, leading the BSO, a quartet of internationally acclaimed singers, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a performance of Verdi’s monumental Requiem. Mr. Nelsons succeeds James Levine, who was music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2011. Mr. Nelsons is the third youngest conductor to be appointed BSO music director since the orchestra’s founding in 1881: Georg Henschel was 31 when he became the orchestra’s first music director in 1881, and Arthur Nikisch was 33 when he opened his first season with the orchestra in 1889.

Andris Nelsons Bio

Andris Nelsons is one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene today, earning distinction on both the opera and concert podiums, including those of the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera. He is also a regular podium presence at the Bayreuth Festival. Mr. Nelsons’ tenure since 2008 as Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has earned critical acclaim. Born in Riga in 1978 into a family of musicians, Mr. Nelsons began his career as a trumpeter in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra before studying conducting. He is married to the soprano Kristine Opolais, who recently received wide acclaim in her Metropolitan Opera debut as Magda in Puccini’s “La Rondine.” They live in Riga with their 18-month old daughter Adriana.

Andris Nelsons made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in March 2011, leading Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall in place of James Levine. Last summer he conducted both the Boston Symphony Orchestra (in Ravel’s La Valse) and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (in Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with Anne-Sophie Mutter) as part of Tanglewood’s gala 75th-anniversary concert, following that the next day with a BSO concert pairing Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. Mr. Nelsons made his Symphony Hall debut with the BSO this past January, leading a program of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Baiba Skride and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

With the CBSO Mr Nelsons is undertaking major tours worldwide, including regular appearances at such summer festivals as the Lucerne Festival, BBC Proms and Berliner Festspiele. Together they have toured the major European concert halls, including the Musikverein, Vienna, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Gasteig, Munich and the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid. Nelsons made his debut in Japan on tour with Wiener Philharmoniker and returns to tour the Far East with the CBSO in November 2013.

Nelsons and the CBSO are working towards releasing all orchestral works of Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss for Orfeo International. The first Strauss disc, featuring Ein Heldenleben, garnered critical praise. Further releases include works of Stravinsky and Shostakovich. The majority of Mr. Nelsons’ recordings have been recognized with a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; in October 2011 he received the prestigious ECHO Klassik of the German Phono Academy in the category “Conductor of the Year” for his 2010 recording with the CBSO of Stravinsky’s Firebird and Symphony of Psalms. For audiovisual recordings, he has an exclusive agreement with Unitel GmbH, the most recent release is a disc of Britten’s War Requiem with the CBSO, released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Prior to his position as Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Nelsons served as principal conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany, from 2006 to 2009, and was music director of the Latvian National Opera from 2003 to 2007.

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