Biography
Owned by the city since 1840, the Gewandhaus Orchestra has three equally important venues: the Gewandhaus, the Opera House and St. Thomas Church. The tradition of the Gewandhaus Orchestra is associated with names such as Heinrich Marschner, Albert Lortzing, Gustav Mahler and Arthur Nikisch, and world premieres such as Heinrich Marschner's ‘Vampyr’ (29 March 1828), Lortzing's ‘Zar und Zimmermann’ (22 December 1837) and Der Wildschütz (31 December 1842), Schumann's only opera Genoveva (25 June 1850) and Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (9 March 1930). Richard Wagner's ‘Ring’ tetralogy was also performed here for the first time outside the Bayreuth Festival Theatre in 1878. To date, 20 Gewandhauskapellmeister, such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Franz Konwitschny, Václav Neumann, Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt and Riccardo Chailly, have shaped the orchestra. In the 2017/18 season, Andris Nelsons took up his post as the 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister. From 2009 to 2022, Ulf Schirmer was General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera. With his appointment as artistic director in 2011, the artistic collaboration between the two cultural institutions on Augustusplatz received new impetus. Highlights included the Wagner and Strauss repertoire in particular. From 2022 to 2023, Christoph Gedschold was Music Director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra at the Opera House. Since the 2025/26 season onwards, Ivan Repušić is the General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera.