A biography for Andris Nelsonshasn’t been written yet.
“I think first thing and the most important thing, for me, is that Boston becomes my musical home, my musical family.”
“I think touring is an important part of the life of an orchestra. Not only sharing with other audiences, but bringing that sense of family that you get back home. The sense of growing deeper into the music, of making it all sound like chamber music - that comes from being together on tour.”
“Conducting is about communication. You don't play any notes, but you communicate with the musicians.”
“We can understand each other with music without words - and that's so important in these times when walls are built. In music, there are no walls.”
“To play opera, to play Wagner, it's a great joy.”
“When you have a great car, you want people to see the car.”
“For me, the main goal is loving music and experiencing the great music-making with the orchestra, which is the great reason why I conduct, and that is the main goal.”
“Every week we have a concert, what we are performing is my favorite music in the world.”
“I'm European, and my roots are in Europe. But Boston is one of the most, in a way, European American cities. And I think I'll find a lot of similarities, historically and architecturally and tradition-wise.”
“The task is to influence and create a reaction in the audience. In my opinion, any reaction of a human being in the audience, I think this is great. It means we touched the person's soul.”
“I want to take the great tradition of the orchestra within me, to take what the orchestra offers.”
“I see, in this life, the hardship many suffer. I see the joy that music can give. How we deal with all this is part of a preparation for the next life.”
“Through conducting, you express through your arms, through your face and even the body, what you want to tell, so the musicians of the orchestra understand.”
“I'm sure the atmosphere at Tanglewood and the space there and nature - I think it absolutely fits Wagner's music.”
“It's a dream to be its conductor. Sometimes I think, 'My God, I can't believe it.' It's a dream which came true.”
“I simply love Wagner's music. That actually started very early. He was the first composer I was exposed very much to because my parents introduced me to Wagner's music very early.”
“For one person, Haydn is most exciting. Or Bach is the most exciting. For another, it's Carter or Strauss. For me - and for any musician - all of the music is exciting. And if you don't approach it with excitement, we can't be musicians.”
“I really think that the music is the food for our souls.”
“Being appointed as the next Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester is a completely overwhelming honour. This extraordinary orchestra and its wonderful musicians are unique in so many respects, and particularly in their creation of an exceptional sound world based on outstanding tradition that is, at its heart, inspirational.”
“The two most important things is, one, the music in my life, and the family. It's somehow connected because music is about human beings, about love, about hate, about everything that happens in life.”