Gewandhausorchester, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Gideon Kremer: Silvestrov, Kissine, Debussy and Ravel at Gewandhaus

The Leipzig Gewandhausorchester is a German orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. It is named after the concert hall in which it is based, the Gewandhaus.

The orchestra has a good claim to being the oldest continuing musical performing organization in Europe. In the early 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn was the kapellmeister.

Later principal conductors included Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Vaclav Neumann, and from 1970 to 1996 Kurt Masur. In 1998, Herbert Blomstedt took over the post until 2005 and will be succeeded by Riccardo Chailly.

As home to the Gewandhausorchester, the city of Leipzig possesses an orchestra of the highest world renown — one with an extraordinarily illustrious heritage spanning 275 years. In March 1743, sixteen Leipzig merchants founded a concert society, which was to shape musical history. Today, the Gewandhausorchester thrills and inspires music lovers the world over with both its passion for music and its unique, unmistakable sound.
Alongside its 70 symphonic Große Concerte per season, the Gewandhausorchester performs as the orchestra both of the Leipzig Opera — a role it has fulfilled for over 200 years — and of St. Thomas‘s Church, performing the music of JS Bach each week with the celebrated Thomanerchor. In addition, the Orchestra gives approximately 35 concerts per season all around the globe, and is documented on countless recordings. The unique diversity of the Gewandhausorchester‘s activities is a fundamental factor of Leipzig‘s international renown as ‚City of Music‘.

Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German origin. He began to play the violin at the age of four, receiving tuition from his father and his grandfather, who were both professional violinists. He went on to study at the Riga School of Music and with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. He won prizes at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1967 (Second Prize), the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1969 (First Prize) and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970 (First Prize).

Kremer's first concert in the West was in Germany in 1975, followed by appearances at the Salzburg Festival in 1976 and in New York in 1977. In 1981, Kremer founded a chamber music festival in Lockenhaus, Austria, with a focus on new and unconventional programming; since 1992 the festival has been known as 'Kremerata Musica' and in 1996 Kremer founded the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, composed of young players from the Baltic region. He was also among the artistic directors of the festival 'Art Projekt 92' in Munich and is director of the Musiksommer Gstaad festival in Switzerland.

Kremer is broadly admired for his wide‐ranging repertoire, extending from Vivaldi and Bach to contemporary composers. He has championed the work of composers such as Ástor Piazzolla, George Enescu, Philip Glass, Alfred Schnittke, Lera Auerbach, Arvo Pärt, and John Adams. His partners in performance include Valery Afanassiev, Martha Argerich, Oleg Maisenberg and Vadim Sakharov. He has a large discography on the Deutsche Grammophon label, for which he has recorded since 1978, and he has also recorded for Philips and Decca. He plays a Guarneri del Gesù violin dating from 1730.