Andris Nelsons

The announcement of Andris Nelsons as Musical America's Artist of the Year for 2018 confirmed the arrival of the Latvian as one of the world's most exciting and highly rated conductors during a meteoric rise that had already seen him become music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His dramatic and innovative performances proved equally popular with critics and concert audiences, resulting in dozens of successful recordings involving a wide range of composers from Mozart and Mahler to Bizet, Wagner and Richard Strauss, with concert performances all over Europe, America and Japan.

Born into a musical family in Riga, Latvia, Nelsons studied piano from an early age and moved to trumpet when he was 12, going on to sing in an early music ensemble run by his mother, while also playing trumpet in the Latvian National Opera. He studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and also had personal tuition from one of his heroes, the famed Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons. It all led to his appointment as principal conductor at Latvian National Opera, a position he held for four years from 2003-2007, during which time he also became chief conductor at Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany.

Soon acclaimed as one of the world's most renowned young conductors, he became known for his energy and vigour and the exceptional rapport he established with the orchestras he worked with, going on to perform in different parts of Europe, becoming well known in the UK, where he became music director with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Leading a performance of Puccini's 'Turandot' at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2009 helped establish his fame in America and also resulted in one of his most renowned recordings with Maria Guleghina and Samuel Ramey. In 2016 and 2017 he won consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Orchestral Recordings of Shostakovich symphonies, collaborating with Gewandhausorchester in an association with the Deutsche Grammophon label. In 2019 Nelsons was announced as the conductor for the 2020 Vienna New Year's Concert.