Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts; January 25, 2024—The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) makes three major new announcements today. Andris Nelsons, who is currently in his tenth season as the Ray and Maria Stata Music Director will move to an evergreen, rolling contract, extending his tenure as Music Director; additionally, he has also been named Head of Conducting at Tanglewood.
The BSO also announces Carlos Simon as its inaugural Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair, a three-season position in which the composer and educator will contribute several new works to the BSO’s repertoire, work together with Nelsons to curate concert programs, and lead educational and outreach programs.
Further establishing the BSO’s status as an orchestra of ideas, and in reflection of the Boston community’s longstanding status as a center of learning in the United States and the world at large, the BSO announces the establishment of a new Boston Symphony Orchestra Humanities Institute where initiatives across the broad range of humanities disciplines will serve to contextualize and enhance the BSO’s highly regarded musical programming.
The fifteenth music director in the BSO’s history, Nelsons made his debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in March 2011, his Tanglewood debut in July 2012, and his Symphony Hall debut in January 2013. Since joining the BSO in the 2014–15 season, Nelsons has led the BSO in 350 concerts in Symphony Hall, 87 concerts at Tanglewood, on four European tours, and on two tours of Japan. Highlights from Nelsons’ tenure include an ongoing focus on the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, including a GRAMMY® Award-winning cycle of the composer’s symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon; extensive transatlantic collaborations with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (GHO), of which he is Gewandhauskapellmeister; and an acclaimed series of programs at Carnegie Hall.
In his position as Deborah and Philip Edmundson Composer Chair, beginning in the 2024-25 season, Carlos Simon will provide one of the many throughlines in the organization: working together with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and President and CEO Chad Smith to animate the BSO programming, including new compositions, educational initiatives, artist-curated programs, and humanities programming presented in partnership with the newly-announced Boston Symphony Orchestra Humanities Institute. This new position encompasses all areas of the Boston Symphony Orchestra organization, including the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Tanglewood Learning Institute.
