Carnegie Hall

The 2023–2024 season is Andris Nelsons’ 10th as the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) Ray and Maria Stata Music Director. The 15th music director in the BSO’s history, Mr. Nelsons made his debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in March 2011, his Tanglewood debut in July 2012, and his Symphony Hall debut in January 2013. He has led the orchestra on four tours of Europe and two of Japan. Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra give annual performances at Carnegie Hall, where this season’s repertoire includes Shostakovich’s monumental opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role.

Mr. Nelsons and the BSO’s ongoing series of recordings of the complete Shostakovich symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon has earned multiple Grammy Awards. The release in October 2023 of symphonies nos. 2, 3, 12, and 13 completes the symphony cycle; future releases will explore the composer’s concertos for piano, violin, and cello and his Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

As Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (GHO), Mr. Nelsons initiated a unique artistic alliance that included joint commissions, a joint concert series at Boston’s Symphony Hall in November 2019, and a seven-CD set for Deutsche Grammophon featuring the major orchestral works of Richard Strauss, released in May 2022. His other recordings with the BSO include the complete Brahms symphonies for BSO Classics and a Naxos release of recent BSO-commissioned American works. Under exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, Mr. Nelsons has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic and is recording the Bruckner symphonies with the GHO. Mr. Nelsons works with such orchestras as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and appears with such opera companies as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at the Bayreuth Festival. 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 was music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; principal conductor of Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany; and music director of the Latvian National Opera.

Kristine Opolais is one of the most sought-after sopranos on the international scene, with an established reputation among the world’s preeminent singing actresses. She has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zurich, and London’s Royal Opera House. She collaborates with renowned conductors who include Daniel Barenboim, Antonio Pappano, Simon Rattle, Mark Elder, Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, and Kirill Petrenko. Highlights of Ms. Opolais’s 2023–2024 season include her greatly anticipated return to the title role in Verdi’s Aida in a new production at Lithuanian National Opera. She also joins celebrated pianist Agnese Egliņa for a series of recitals in Latvia, Hungary, and Brazil. Last season, Ms. Opolais sang her signature role of Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi Salerno, earning critical praise for her moving performance and mastery of the character. In concert, she sang gala performances with the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet in Istanbul and Ankara, as well as a tribute concert in memory of Andrejs Žagars at Latvian National Opera. She also performed a concert of arias by Puccini, Cilea, Verdi, and more in a New Year’s concert with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, led by Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv.

Brenden Gunnell is a key player in the next generation of heldentenors. Born in the US, he has been an ensemble member of Oper Leipzig since the 2022–2023 season. Upcoming roles with the company include Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre and the title role in Britten’s Peter Grimes, which he also sings for Oper Köln. His 2023–2024 concert engagements include Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and Sylvain Cambreling, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Alpesh Chauhan. Recent operatic roles include Herod in Strauss’s Salome with Oper Leipzig; Erik in Wagner’s Flying Dutchman for Komische Oper Berlin; Wagner’s Lohengrin for the Bolshoi Theatre; Duke of Kent in Aribert Reimann’s Lear, and Hüon in a new production of Weber’s Oberon for the Bavarian State Opera; Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka for the Glyndebourne Festival and Bergen National Opera; Loge in Wagner’s Das Rheingold for Birmingham Opera Company and Gothenburg Opera; Jimmy in Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for Rome Opera; Jenik in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride for Garsington Opera; Peter Grimes at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken; and the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Opéra national de Lorraine. In 2023, Mr. Gunnell made his debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra singing both Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Matthias Foremny and Symphony No. 8 with Andris Nelsons. He is particularly noted for Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, which he sang in his debut with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate and has since sung with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and at the Rheingau Musik Festival. After completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2006, Mr. Gunnell was an ensemble member at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck from 2007 to 2011 under artistic director Brigitte Fassbaender, and at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet from 2011 to 2013.

Peter Hoare was born in Bradford, England, and initially trained as a percussionist before making his debut as a singer at Welsh National Opera. Renowned for his versatility and musicianship, Mr. Hoare has built his reputation internationally in 20th-century and contemporary opera, making his Metropolitan Opera debut as Hauptmann in Berg’s Wozzeck followed by Shapkin in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead. He has sung Shapkin at Opéra national de Paris and La Monnaie; Alviano Salvago in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten at Komische Oper Berlin and in Palermo; Sharikov in Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart for Dutch National Opera, La Scala, English National Opera, and Opéra de Lyon; and Desportes in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten for Opernhaus Zurich and in David Pountney’s production at the Ruhrtriennale, New National Theatre in Tokyo, and Lincoln Center. Other appearances include Frère Elie in Messiaen’s Saint Francis of Assisi for the Hamburg State Opera, the Witch in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in Amsterdam, Creon in Julian Anderson’s Thebans in Bonn and at English National Opera, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Lyon. More recently he sang Hauptmann at Covent Garden and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Shapkin in From the House of the Dead at La Monnaie, and Mortimer in Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence in Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Lyon; in addition, he made his debut as Captain Vere in Annilese Miskimmon’s acclaimed production of Britten’s Billy Budd for Norwegian Opera in Oslo. Highlights of the 2023–2024 season include returns to English National Opera as Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and La Monnaie as Mime in Das Rheingold. In concert, he performs Piet le Pot in Ligeti’s Le grand macabre at Bucharest’s Enescu Festival with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra under Arnaud Arbet, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle.

Austrian bass Günther Groissböck is a sought-after guest at leading opera houses and festivals worldwide that include the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, La Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, and the Bayreuth Festival. His 2023–2024 engagements include the Wagner roles of Gurnemanz in Parsifal and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde in Berlin, Veit Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Gurnemanz in Vienna, concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti, recitals at the Vienna Musikverein and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and King Marke at the Bayreuth Festival. An extensive discography and videography testify to Mr. Groissböck’s versatile work. Among his DVD releases are three productions of Der Rosenkavalier (Salzburg Festival, 2015; Staatsoper Unter den Linden, 2021; and Metropolitan Opera, 2017, for which he was a Grammy nominee), as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, and—newly released—Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 and Te Deum with Bernard Haitink and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his engagements in opera and orchestral concerts, a further focus of his artistic work is Lied singing, to which he devotes himself with great passion. His latest album, Nicht Wiedersehen!—featuring songs by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and Hans Rott, which he recorded with Malcom Martineau—was awarded the Choc de Classica. His new album, Männerliebe und -leben, also with Mr. Martineau, will be released this year.