The Full Works Concert: Wednesday 18 March 2015, 8pm

Jane Jones is off to Leipzig for Great Orchestras of the World month, where the city’s Gewandhaus Orchestra provides the music for tonight’s programme.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra got its name after the concert hall in which it was based. They started out playing in private homes in 1743, before transferring to the Three Swans Tavern for 36 years. Then, complaints about the audience's behaviour and conditions in the inn forced the city of Leipzig in 1781 to renovate a storey of the Gewandhaus – a building used by textile merchants – for the orchestra's use. 

In 1835, Felix Mendelssohn became the orchestra's music director and held the position with only one year's interruption until his death in 1847. Later principal conductors included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter and Herbert Blomstedt. In 2005, Riccardo Chailly took over as both Gewandhauskapellmeister and music director of the Leipzig Opera. Together, he and the orchestra have released recordings on the Decca label of works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann and Beethoven. 

Currently the orchestra plays in the third building to bear the name Gewandhaus (pictured), which opened in 1981. The orchestra also performs frequently in the Thomaskirche and as the official opera orchestra of the Leipzig Opera.

Felix Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas – Overture
Kurt Masur conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Johann Sebastian Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D minor
Piano: Ramin Bahrami
Riccardo Chailly conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.2 in D major
Riccardo Chailly conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Johannes Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor
Violin: Vadim Repin
Cello: Truls Mork
Riccardo Chailly conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier – Waltz Sequence No.1
Herbert Blomstedt conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra