Andris Nelsons OBE was born on November 18, 1978. He is a conductor from Latvia. Currently, he serves as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Previously, he was the music director of the Latvian National Opera, the chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and the music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Early life
Nelsons was born in Riga. His mother started the first early music group in Latvia. His father was a choral conductor, cellist, and teacher. At age five, his mother and stepfather (a choir conductor) took him to see a performance of Wagner's Tannhäuser. Nelsons calls this experience very important: "It had a powerful effect on me. I was very moved by the music. I cried when Tannhäuser died. I still believe this was the most important event of my childhood."
As a young person, Nelsons learned to play the piano. He began playing the trumpet at age 12. He also sang as a bass-baritone in his mother's ensemble, where he had a special interest in early music. He studied for one summer at the Dartington International Summer School with Evelyn Tubb. He worked as a trumpeter in the orchestra of the Latvian National Opera.
Conducting career
Nelsons studied conducting with Alexander Titov in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He also took part in conducting master classes with Neeme Järvi, Roberto Carnevale, and Jorma Panula. He gained attention from Mariss Jansons when he substituted for a trumpet player in the Oslo Philharmonic during an orchestra tour. Nelsons considered Jansons a mentor and began studying conducting with him in 2002.
In 2003, Nelsons became the principal conductor of the Latvian National Opera. He held this position for four years until 2007. In 2006, he became the chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany. He remained in this role until the end of the 2008/09 season. His first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera was in October 2009, when he conducted a production of Turandot. In July 2010, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, conducting a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the festival’s opening performance.
In the UK, Nelsons’s early work included studio concerts with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester. His first BBC Philharmonic concert at the Bridgewater Hall was in November 2007. In October 2007, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) named Nelsons as its 12th principal conductor and music director, starting with the 2008/09 season. The appointment was unusual because Nelsons had only conducted the CBSO in a private concert and during a recording session before being named to the post. His first public appearance with the CBSO was on 11 November 2007 in a matinee concert, and his first subscription concert with the CBSO was in March 2008. In July 2009, Nelsons extended his CBSO contract for three more years, through the 2013/14 season. In August 2012, the CBSO announced that his contract would be extended through the 2014/15 season and then renewed annually. In October 2013, the CBSO announced that Nelsons’s tenure as music director would end after the 2014/15 season.
Nelsons first guest-conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in March 2011 as an emergency substitute for James Levine at Carnegie Hall. He later guest-conducted the BSO at the Tanglewood Music Festival in July 2012 and made his first appearance with the BSO at Symphony Hall in Boston in January 2013. That May, the orchestra named him its 15th music director, starting in the fall of 2014. His initial contract was for five years, with a requirement to appear 8 to 10 weeks in the first season and 12 weeks per season afterward.
Nelsons held the title of Music Director Designate during the 2013/14 season. In August 2015, the BSO announced that his contract as music director would be extended through the 2021/22 season with a new eight-year contract that replaced the original five-year agreement. The new contract included a clause for automatic renewal. In October 2020, the BSO extended his contract through August 2025, with automatic renewal. In January 2024, the BSO changed his contract to a rolling evergreen contract.
On March 6, 2026, the BSO board of directors and president Chad Smith announced that Nelsons would end his tenure with the BSO at the end of the summer 2027 Tanglewood season. The BSO board stated that Nelsons sent a letter to the orchestra’s staff and musicians, saying, “This is not the decision I anticipated or wanted.”
Nelsons first guest-conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 2011. In September 2015, the orchestra announced that Nelsons would become its next Gewandhauskapellmeister, starting with the 2017–2018 season. His initial contract was for five seasons. In October 2020, the orchestra extended his contract through 31 July 2027. In August 2025, the Gewandhausorchester announced an additional five-year extension of his contract, through 31 July 2032.
With the CBSO, Nelsons recorded music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, and Igor Stravinsky for the Orfeo label. Separately, he also recorded for the BR-Klassik label and the Concertgebouw Orchestra label. Nelsons recorded commercially with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon. Their recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony won a Grammy Award in 2015 for best orchestral performance. Their recordings of Shostakovich’s Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth Symphonies won a Grammy Award in 2016 for best orchestral performance. In 2018, they received another Grammy Award for best orchestral performance for Shostakovich’s Fourth and Eleventh Symphonies. In 2019, Deutsche Grammophon released a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies recorded by Nelsons with the Vienna Philharmonic.
In December 2019 and January 2020, Nelsons conducted the Vienna New Year’s Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time. He performed the trumpet solo in the Postillon-Galopp by Hans Christian Lumbye, becoming the first non-violinist conductor to perform a solo in the Vienna New Year’s Concert.
Personal life
Nelsons has been married two times. His first marriage was to Kristīne Opolais, a soprano from Latvia. They met during Nelsons's time working at the Latvian National Opera, where she was part of the opera chorus and later became a solo singer with the company. The couple married in 2011. Their daughter, Adriana Anna, was born on December 28, 2011. The couple announced their divorce on March 27, 2018. Nelsons married again in April 2019, this time to Alice Heidler.
Nelsons has practiced Taekwondo for many years and received his black belt in November 2022.