Biography

Andris Nelsons' mother was the founder of one of the first orchestras in Latvia. His father was a conductor, cellist and music teacher. When Nelsons was five, his mother and stepfather took the boy to see Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser. The emotion was intense and the boy cried with emotion.

As a young boy, Nelsons studied piano and could already play the trumpet at the age of twelve. He also performed as a bass-baritone in his mother's orchestra and had a particular interest in early music. During the summer, he attended the Darlington International Summer School with Evelyne Tubb. He was then accepted into the Latvian National Opera Orchestra as a trumpet player.

It was in Saint Petersburg that Nelsons studied to become a conductor with Alexandr Titoy. Mariss Jansons spotted him and he was called as 1st trumpet of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and became Jansons' pupil in orchestration.

In 2003, the young artist became principal conductor of the Latvian National Orchestra and remained there until 2007. In 2006 and 2008, Nelsons was elected principal conductor of the Nordwestdeusche Philharmonic in Herford. He resigned in 2009 and took part in a production of Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera. Between 2007 and 2014, Nelsons had a renewable contract as artistic director and principal conductor for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival and supervised Wagner's Lohengrin. In 2012, this contract was renewed until 2015.

Nelsons recorded works by Strauss, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky with the CBSO for a record label called Orfeo. Outside of CBSO, Nelsons also recorded for BR-Classik, a German label.

In the summer of 2015, after a first season as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons’ contract was extended through the 2021-22 season. In November 2017, he and the orchestra embarked on their first tour of Japan. In February 2018, Andris Nelsons was appointed Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, a position that will allow him to develop a synergy between the two ensembles.