Gregor Tassie

Shostakovich Festival Leipzig 2025

A tradition established by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra has been two-yearly festivals devoted to a single composer; these have been dedicated to Gustav Mahler, Felix Mendelssohn and J S Bach in recent years, and marking the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s passing in 1975 Dmitry Shostakovich is to be the subject in a two-week festival covering almost all of his works. Dmitry Shostakovich visited the city of Leipzig several times in his career – the first time was for the Bach Festival in 1950, and he composed his Eighth String Quartet in the town of Görlitz in Saxony. His score for the feature film about the bombing of Dresden Five Days and Nights was composed after visiting the bombed city of Dresden. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra gave the German premiere of Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony under the baton of Fritz Konwitschny in Leipzig.

This portrayal of Shostakovich’s works will be between 15 May and 1 June in a festival featuring all fifteen symphonies and string quartets in what will be one of the most comprehensive examinations of the works of the great composer.

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