Nelsons conducts Mahler 8 in Boston

Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony

Christine Goerke, Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony

Boys of the St Paul's Choir School

By Kevin Wells, 06 October 2024

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“Andris Nelsons led with assurance, sensitivity and drive”

Reviewed at Symphony Hall, Boston on 4 October 2024

Mahler, Symphony no. 8 in E flat major "Symphony of a Thousand"

Andris Nelsons, Conductor

Latonia Moore, Soprano

Christine Goerke, Soprano

Ying Fang, Soprano

Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-soprano

Gerhild Romberger, Mezzo-soprano

Andreas Schager, Tenor

Michael Nagy, Baritone

Ryan Speedo Green, Bass-baritone

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

James Burton, Choirmaster / chorus director

Boys of the St Paul's Choir School

Brandon Straub, Choirmaster / chorus director

Boston Symphony Orchestra

A Evgeny Kissin tour de force in Boston

Kevin Wells, 25th April

Andrey Boreyko makes an impressive debut with the Boston Symphony, where Evgeny Kissin performs in not one, but two piano concertos.

****1

Andris Nelsons and the BSO arrive in New York, with baggage in tow

Cameron Kelsall, 9th April

In his first New York appearance since the termination of his contract as BSO Music Director, Nelsons courts public sympathy and makes some thrilling music.

***11

Herbert Blomstedt conducts Brahms with the Boston Symphony

Kevin Wells, 5th March

Herbert Blomstedt demonstrates the “singability” of Brahms in his latest appearance with the Boston Symphony, concluding with the autumnal glow of the Fourth Symphony.

*****

An earthbound Missa Solemnis from Boston Symphony Orchestra

Cameron Kelsall, 11th October

In celebration of the 125th anniversary of Symphony Hall, Andris Nelsons returns to the work that opened the venue on 15th October 1900.

***11

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony perform Debussy and Mahler

Kevin Wells, 4th October

Andris Nelsons celebrates Symphony Hall’s 125th anniversary with two works contemporaneous to the hall’s first season: Debussy’s Nocturnes and Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 (both premiered in 1901).

***11

As usual, Beethoven ushers out the BSO season at Tanglewood

Cameron Kelsall, 24th August

The season-ending performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony loses its intended conductor but remains enjoyable, if somewhat under-rehearsed.

***11

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Kevin Wells

Kevin Wells was bitten by the opera bug at 10, having heard a 1936 recording of Jussi Björling singing “Che gelida manina”. He has never been the same since. A student of voice, performance practice, the history of singing and opera, he holds advanced degrees in Italian and has lived and worked in Italy off and on since the 70s. La Scala became a second home as the Met had been during college daze. Now in his native Boston, he works as translator, tutor, and language coach, haunts Symphony Hall, and would haunt the Opera House had it not been demolished in 1958!

“The indescribable is here accomplished”: Nelsons conducts Mahler 8 in Boston