Fifty years after the death of Dmitri Shostakovich, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig is paying tribute to one of the most played composers of the 20th century with a festival entirely dedicated to him. The programme for the opening concert in the futuristic setting of the Great Hall includes the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, with Daniil Trifonov as soloist, and the Symphony No. 4 in C minor.

As a child, Christoph Eschenbach was forced to flee Wrocław in 1945. On 25 April 2025, he returns to his home town to commemorate the end of the Second World War. For this solemn concert, the conductor has chosen to combine Arnold Schönberg's post-war work A Survivor from Warsaw with Johannes Brahms's German Requiem.