Alan Gilbert: festivals, tour & more in sixth season with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra; dates with Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony & others; Czech Philharmonic debut; and Wozzeck at Royal Swedish Opera in 2024-25

(August 2024) — The coming season marks Alan Gilbert’s sixth as Chief Conductor of
Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (NDR). Bookended by season-opening accounts of
Gurre-Lieder to honor Schoenberg at 150 and a livestreamed world premiere, their 2024–25
highlights include a celebration of 21st-century music at the second “Elbphilharmonie Visions”
festival, concert performances of Wozzeck at the Hamburg International Music Festival, and a
six-city European tour. The Grammy-winning conductor also returns to the States for February
engagements with both the Boston Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra; makes his Czech
Philharmonic debut; graces the podiums of the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Israel
Philharmonic, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; and leads a new production of Wozzeck as
Music Director of the Royal Swedish Opera.

Sixth season with NDR: festivals, European tour, and more

Known for his “stimulating exactitude, verve, and power” (New York Classical Review) in
Schoenberg, Gilbert launches his sixth NDR season with star-studded performances of the
Austrian American composer’s late-Romantic oratorio, Gurre-Lieder, to celebrate this year’s
Schoenberg sesquicentennial. Joined by narrator Thomas Quasthoff and vocal soloists Christina
Nilsson, Jamie Barton, Simon O’Neill, Michael Schade, and Michael Nagy, with the NDR Vocal
Ensemble, MDR Radio Choir, and Berlin Radio Choir, Gilbert the NDR give two Opening Night
accounts of the work (Sep 11 & 13), the second of which takes place 150 years to the day after
Schoenberg’s birth. Launching the season at Hamburg’s iconic Elbphilharmonie, these concerts
will be followed by a third performance that concludes the 2024 Lucerne Festival (Sep 15).

After recording Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony with NDR, from which he drew “playing of
considerable eloquence” (Gramophone), Gilbert honors the Austrian symphonist’s 200th
anniversary with performances of his monumental Eighth Symphony (Dec 5–8). The conductor’s
NDR fall highlights also include collaborations with violist Antoine Tamestit (Sep 19–22) and
pianists Daniil Trifonov (Oct 3 & 4), Rafał Blechacz (Oct 6), and Yefim Bronfman, who joins
them in Hamburg and on a six-city European tour (Oct 10–20). Their tour program features
Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, of which, after a previous NDR performance, Bachtrack
observed: “Gilbert responds instinctively to Russian music and he was in his element.”

Next spring Gilbert and the orchestra return to the annual Hamburg International Music
Festival, which brings together some of the world’s leading artists and orchestras. After joining
celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes for Debussy’s seldom-programmed Fantaisie
(May 8–11), they perform Berg’s opera Wozzeck in concert, with a stellar cast headed by
Matthias Goerne and Christine Goerke (May 23 & 25). The new year also brings the second
edition of “Elbphilharmonie Visions,” their biennial ten-day celebration of 21st-century music.
Gilbert and the NDR open the festival with new music from Alex Paxton and Bernd Richard
Deutsch (Feb 7), before closing it with works by Dalit Warshaw, Dai Fujikura, and Magnus
Lindberg (Feb 16). Gilbert is a longtime champion of the Finnish composer’s music, and his
all-Lindberg recording “could hardly be bettered … as an introduction to one of the most
approachable and individual voices in contemporary music” (MusicWeb International).

Gilbert rounds out his NDR season with performances of Brahms’s Second Symphony (March
27–30), and a chamber concert of Britten, Bruch, and Schulhoff, for which he plays viola (May
10). Late next spring, he conducts the world premiere of Venus in the Mirror, a new double
concerto for cello and kamancheh by Iran’s Kayhan Kalhor, in season-closing concerts
featuring the composer and Yo-Yo Ma (June 27–29), of which the third will stream live to home
audiences worldwide. As Susan Hall reports for Slipped Disc: “Gilbert has always been daring.
In Hamburg, he has come into his own. Here he is appreciated for his adventurous ways
and his spot-on conducting.”

February dates with Boston Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra

Having previously served for eight seasons as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic,
Gilbert returns to the States next February for guest engagements with two other of its foremost
ensembles. Following his weeklong residency with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this past
summer at the 2024 Tanglewood festival, he leads the orchestra in a program juxtaposing two
Classical Haydn symphonies with Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Violin Concerto, featuring
Gramophone Award winner Isabelle Faust (Feb 20–22). Gilbert’s leadership of the Boston
Symphony has been called “revelatory,” thanks to “his thoughtful musicianship and fresh
approaches to programming” (Boston Globe).

He also returns to the Cleveland Orchestra for Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony and
Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto, with Leonidas Kavakos as soloist (Feb 27–March 1).
Since serving as its Assistant Conductor in the mid-1990s, Gilbert has shared a special rapport
with the orchestra that “evince[s] levels of comfort and mutual understanding enjoyed only
by the initiated” (Cleveland Plain-Dealer). Last year, at their most recent collaboration, he led the
orchestra “like the old friend he is, with complete assurance and comfort” in a program of
Haydn and Nielsen that ultimately “approached the sublime” (Cleveland Plain-Dealer).

Czech Philharmonic debut & returns to Bavarian Radio Symphony & others

As a longtime Nielsen aficionado whose recording of the Danish composer’s Third Symphony was
chosen as Gramophone’s favorite recorded version of the work, Gilbert features Nielsen’s music
in two more of his upcoming guest engagements. As Conductor Laureate of the Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic, he conducts the composer’s Second Symphony, “The Four
Temperaments” (Nov 20 & 21), and for his debut with Prague’s Czech Philharmonic, his
interpretations of the Helios Overture and Third Symphony flank the Schumann Piano Concerto,
with Gilmore Artist Kirill Gerstein as soloist (Dec 18–20).

Another great Scandinavian symphonist is the focus of Gilbert’s return to Munich’s Bavarian
Radio Symphony next spring, when he leads a program combining Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony
and Night Ride and Sunrise with the European premiere of a new cello concerto by Austria’s
Thomas Larcher. A Bavarian Symphony, New York Philharmonic & Vienna Philharmonic
co-commission, the concerto will feature its dedicatee, MacArthur fellow Alisa Weilerstein (June
5 & 6). For his final guest appearance of the season, Gilbert reunites with Gerstein in Tel Aviv,
with the Israel Philharmonic, for a program of Dutilleux and Brahms (June 18–21).

Wozzeck and more at Royal Swedish Opera

Appointed last year as Royal Court Kapellmeister by the King of Sweden, Gilbert has been Music
Director of the Royal Swedish Opera since spring 2021. This fall, he conducts Berg’s Wozzeck in
the Swedish premiere of a new co-production with Opéra de Lyon. Created by Lyon’s general
and artistic director Richard Brunel, who sets the action between the two world wars, this stars
Peter Mattei and Malin Byström (Nov 16–Dec 14), reuniting Gilbert with the baritone after
their acclaimed Royal Swedish Opera collaboration on Parsifal this past spring; Opera magazine
reports:

“Musically, the performance was outstanding. This was Gilbert’s first Parsifal, but he guided
the orchestra, soloists and chorus through the work as if he’s been doing it for years, superbly,
balanced throughout.”

Gilbert returns to the Stockholm house in 2025, leading productions of Mozart’s Le nozze di
Figaro (Jan 25–March 20) and Wagner’s Die Walküre (March 22–April 21); more details to be
announced soon. A major player on the opera scene, he has helmed productions at legendary
houses worldwide, including Milan’s La Scala and New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where his
account of Doctor Atomic was filmed, released on DVD, and recognized with a Grammy Award.

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Facebook.com/GilbertConducts
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Alan Gilbert: 2024-25 engagements

Sep 11 & 13
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Season-opening concerts
SCHOENBERG: Gurre-Lieder (with soprano Christina Nilsson as Tove; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the
Wood Dove; tenor Michael Schade as Klaus the Jester; tenor Simon O’Neill as Waldemar; baritone Michael
Nagy as the Peasant; Thomas Quasthoff as the narrator; NDR Vocal Ensemble; MDR Radio Choir)

Sep 15
Lucerne, Switzerland
Lucerne Festival
Closing night concert
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
SCHOENBERG: Gurre-Lieder (with soprano Christina Nilsson as Tove; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the
Wood Dove; tenor Michael Schade as Klaus the Jester; tenor Simon O’Neill as Waldemar; baritone Michael
Nagy as the Peasant; Thomas Quasthoff as the narrator; NDR Vocal Ensemble; MDR Radio Choir)

Sep 19–22
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Sep 19 & 22: Hamburg, Germany
Sep 21: Lübeck, Germany
BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6
HINDEMITH: Kammermusik No. 5 (with Antoine Tamestit, viola)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1

Oct 3 & 4
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G (with Daniil Trifonov, piano)
DEBUSSY: La mer
RAVEL: Daphnis et Chloé

Oct 6
Peenemünde, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Rafał Blechacz, piano)
DEBUSSY: La mer
RAVEL: Daphnis et Chloé

Oct 10–20
Concerts and North European tour with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Oct 10 & 11: Hamburg, Germany
Oct 12: Cologne, Germany
Oct 13: Friedrichshafen, Germany
Oct 14: Freiburg, Germany
Oct 16: Basel, Switzerland
Oct 18: Turin, Italy
Oct 20: Munich, Germany
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Yefim Bronfman, piano)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4

Nov 16, 19, 22, 25, 28; Dec 10 & 14
Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Swedish Opera
BERG: Wozzeck

Nov 20 & 21
Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 (with Marie-Ange Nguci, piano; Nov 21 only)
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 2 (“The Four Temperaments”)

Dec 5, 6 & 8
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 8

Dec 18–20
Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Philharmonic (debut)
NIELSEN: Helios Overture
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto (with Kirill Gerstein, piano)
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 5

Jan 24
Stockholm, Sweden
Chamber Concert in the Golden Foyer (TBD)

Jan 25, 28, 31; March 4, 11, 14, 17, & 20
Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Swedish Opera
MOZART: Le nozze di Figaro

Feb 7 & 16
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
“Elbphilharmonie Visions” festival

Feb 7:
Alex PAXTON: new work
Bernd Richard DEUTSCH: Urworte after Goethe

Feb 16:
Dalit WARSHAW: Responses for orchestra
Magnus LINDBERG: Viola Concerto (with Lawrence Power, viola)
Dai FUJIKURA: Tocar y Luchar for orchestra

Feb 20–22
Boston, MA
Boston Symphony Orchestra
HAYDN: Symphony No. 48, “Marie Therese”
STRAVINSKY: Violin Concerto (with Isabelle Faust, violin)
HAYDN: Symphony No. 99

Feb 27, 28; March 1
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Orchestra
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Leonidas Kavakos, violin)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”

March 22, 26, 29; April 5, 9, 12, 18, & 21
Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Swedish Opera
WAGNER: Die Walküre

March 27, 28 & 30
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
R. STRAUSS: Serenade for Winds in E-flat
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 (with Emanuel Ax, piano)
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2

May 8, 9 & 11
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
2025 Hamburg international Music Festival
DEBUSSY: Fantaisie (with Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
FRANCK: Symphonic Variations

May 10
Hamburg, Germany
Chamber concert (on viola, with Elphier Quartet)
BRITTEN: Fantasy in F minor
BRUCH: String Quintet in A minor
SCHULHOFF: String Sextet

May 23 & 25
Hamburg, Germany
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
2025 Hamburg international Music Festival
BERG: Wozzeck in concert

June 5 & 6
Munich, Germany
Bavarian Radio Symphony
SIBELIUS: Night Ride and Sunrise
Thomas LARCHER: Cello Concerto (European premiere of Bavarian Radio Symphony, New York
Philharmonic & Vienna Philharmonic co-commission; with Alisa Weilerstein, cello)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5

June 18–21
Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel Philharmonic
DUTILLEUX: Symphony No. 2 (“Le Double”)
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Kirill Gerstein, piano)

June 27–29
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
June 27: Hamburg, Germany
June 28: Hamburg, Germany (open air)
June 29: Osnabrück, Germany (with livestream)
Kayhan KALHOR: Venus in the Mirror (double concerto for cello and kamancheh (with Kayhan Kalhor,
kamancheh; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; world premiere)

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