In Leipzig, the Gewandhaus Stands by Andris Nelsons After BSO Split

The Boston Globe has published a report from Leipzig, where the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra — the ensemble that just extended Andris Nelsons' contract through at least 2032 — cannot fathom why the Boston Symphony Orchestra decided to part ways with its music director.

The Globe's September 26 article, the latest in a series of pieces questioning the BSO's dismissal of Nelsons, quotes Gewandhaus director Andreas Schulz as saying he can't get his head around the Boston decision. Some in Boston have argued Nelsons was stretched too thin and not present enough. Schulz sees it differently: the Americans had the better end of the arrangement.

"In America, he was just doing Boston Symphony. He was not conducting any other American orchestras," Schulz told the Globe. "I, for my side, could be a little bit angry with him," he added, referring to Nelsons' many commitments elsewhere. But no anger followed. Schulz and the Leipzig musicians remain firmly behind their longtime chief.

Since the BSO leadership announced in March that it would not keep Nelsons on after the close of the Tanglewood season next year, Boston has seen protests from patrons, financial turmoil, and months of tense contract negotiations with musicians that averted a potential strike. Musicians and patrons have worn red flower pins in support of Nelsons, a reference to the mostly red flag of his native Latvia.

The Gewandhaus players considered joining the red flower campaign but declined, according to Bernhard Krug, the orchestra's principal horn and chairman of the Orchestra Board, because "we would have to explain it to the audience." The orchestra did send a letter of support to its Boston counterparts. Krug said the Leipzig musicians learned of Nelsons' termination last spring directly from visiting Boston players taking part in the exchange program.

Celebrating Boston's loss would be "ungenerous," Krug said. "If we have one or two concerts more with him, or maybe one or two weeks more of touring with him, that would be fine, but I would happily give it to Boston if they find a solution to go on."

Krug was effusive about Nelsons as a conductor, calling him a "genius" with the "talent to invent conducting." Some great conductors focus on details, Krug said, but Nelsons' approach gives the music space to breathe.

"When he conducts, he does not think in English or German or Latvian, even if that would be his own. But he thinks directly in music, and this is so direct," Krug said. "Sometimes in a concert you have suddenly a new gesture never seen before, that everybody understands."

Schulz admitted Nelsons could be hard to pin down for planning discussions. "You have to find your time," he said. "But from the artistic point of view, I'm missing nothing. … He is always very open."

The Globe also notes the structural differences between the two institutions. The Gewandhaus receives substantial government funding, like many European arts institutions, while the BSO faces heavy financial pressure to reverse long-term attendance declines. Rumors that BSO leadership took issue with Nelsons' devotion to the established canon — Beethoven, Shostakovich — carry no weight in Leipzig, where Bach wrote foundational works of Western classical music and Nelsons is a direct successor to Felix Mendelssohn. Patrons there would send "little letters" if the Gewandhaus tried to be too innovative, Schulz said. In America, "contemporary music plays a bigger part, because the history of American music is not so old."

Telling Nelsons what to conduct is not Schulz's role anyway. "He is the music director. He will stand in front of our orchestra. … It's not my stage as a CEO," Schulz said.

Under the German co-determination principle, the Gewandhaus players chose Nelsons as their chief, and his latest contract depended on their continued support. "We are the experts, and we can say on stage that it works great," Krug said. Boston has moved partly in that direction: the new BSO collective bargaining agreement gives players half the seats on the search committee for Nelsons' replacement and an effective veto, though management and the board retained ultimate decision-making power.

That leaves the future of the alliance — musician exchanges, joint performances, co-commissioned works, and Leipzig conservatory students playing at Tanglewood — in the hands of BSO CEO Chad Smith, the only voice the Globe notes has defended the dismissal. "The alliance was . . . one of the most impressive projects I ever have planned," Schulz said. A BSO spokesperson said the organization is "excited that two of our musicians will join the exchange this fall," with the current agreement running through 2027. Krug has already floated one idea: bringing the Gewandhaus players' experience with historically informed performance to the Berkshires. "Why not make some combination with Bach at Tanglewood?"