1. Andris Nelsons was born on 18 November 1978 and is a Latvian conductor.
20 Facts About Andris Nelsons
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Andris Nelsons is currently music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
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Andris Nelsons was previously music director of the Latvian National Opera, chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
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Andris Nelsons's mother founded the first early music ensemble in Latvia, and his father was a choral conductor, cellist, and teacher.
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Andris Nelsons sang bass-baritone, with a special interest in early music, in his mother's ensemble.
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Andris Nelsons studied for one summer at the Dartington International Summer School with Evelyn Tubb.
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Andris Nelsons served as a trumpeter with the orchestra of the Latvian National Opera.
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Andris Nelsons studied conducting with Alexander Titov in Saint Petersburg, Russia and participated in conducting master classes with Neeme Jarvi, Roberto Carnevale and Jorma Panula.
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Andris Nelsons came to the attention of Mariss Jansons when he emergency-substituted with the Oslo Philharmonic in their trumpet section during an orchestra tour.
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Andris Nelsons counted Jansons as a mentor and began conducting studies with him in 2002.
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In 2003, Andris Nelsons became principal conductor of the Latvian National Opera.
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Andris Nelsons concluded his tenure there after four years in 2007.
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Andris Nelsons's first conducting appearance at the Metropolitan Opera was in October 2009, a production of Turandot.
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In July 2010, Andris Nelsons made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, conducting a new production of Wagner's Lohengrin at the opening performance of the festival.
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The appointment was unusual in that Andris Nelsons had conducted the CBSO only in a private concert and in a recording session, without a public concert engagement, prior to being named to the post.
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Andris Nelsons subsequently guest-conducted the BSO at the Tanglewood Music Festival in July 2012, and made his first appearance with the BSO at Symphony Hall, Boston in January 2013.
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Separately from the CBSO, Andris Nelsons has recorded for the BR-Klassik label and for the label of the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
18.
In December 2019 and January 2020, Andris Nelsons conducted for the first time the Vienna New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, where he performed the trumpet solo in the Postillon-Galopp of Hans Christian Lumbye, the first conductor to perform a solo in the Vienna New Year's Concert who is not a violinist.
19.
Andris Nelsons was formerly married to the Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais.
20.
Andris Nelsons is a longtime practitioner of Taekwondo, and earned his black belt in November 2022.