Andris Nelsons received a hero’s welcome at Symphony Hall Thursday night, his first performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra since its board of trustees rocked the staid world of classical music by parting ways with the conductor because he wasn’t “aligned on future vision.”
Dressed in black, Nelsons basked in applause and clasped his hands in a show of gratitude as the substantial crowd rose to its feet to cheer him on. The musicians, who adore their maestro, had moments earlier telegraphed their support from the stage: Entering en masse, each had adorned their outfit with a single red carnation, a show of solidarity and a nod to the dominant color of the flag of Latvia, Nelsons’ home country.
It was an emotional homecoming for the conductor, who said he neither anticipated the decision nor wanted to leave when his contract expires at the end of the 2027 Tanglewood season.
Nevertheless, Nelsons quickly got down to business, leading the orchestra and pianist Yunchan Lim through Robert Schumann’s moody “Piano Concerto in A minor.”
In some respects, the performance Thursday night marked the beginning of a new abnormal for the BSO. Nelsons must navigate the next 17 months as a lame duck music director.
The BSO board and president Chad Smith must rebuild trust with the orchestra while articulating a “future vision” and addressing daunting financial challenges. Meanwhile, the players, blindsided by Nelsons’ dismissal, have to continue to work with a leadership that, as they’ve said, “no longer has the trust or buy-in of the musicians.”
For some concertgoers, Nelsons’ removal is a bewildering end to one era and the beginning of a new one marked by uncertainty.
“It’s absolutely terrible,” Carla Birarelli, who’d traveled from the Framingham area to attend the concert, said outside Symphony Hall. “It’s very sad. Lots of people in the community love Andris.”
One longtime Symphony Hall volunteer noted wryly: “If I had my BSO pin, I would have worn it upside down tonight like a flag in distress.”
If the players were under new pressures Thursday, they didn’t show it.
As a sensitive and responsive partner to pianist Yunchan Lim in the Schumann concerto, the orchestra played with a poetic sense of precision. Later, in Tchaikovsky’s expansive “Manfred” Symphony, the full orchestra was in magnificent form, practically daring anyone to accuse it of decline under Nelsons’ leadership.
Smith has said the BSO faces major challenges, including a 20 percent drop in attendance since the pandemic. But that wasn’t the case at Thursday night’s well-attended performance, when many braved the brisk evening air specifically to see Nelsons’ return.
“We wanted the opportunity, if it arises, to support Andris,” said Rob Nixon, a longtime subscriber who added he wanted more information from BSO leadership. “It kind of seems like they’ve turtled on it. They’re not saying anything.”
Nixon was one of numerous concertgoers who expressed dismay at how Nelsons’ departure was handled.
Leni Herzog called the situation “horrible” and “so disrespectful to Andris and the musicians.” Meanwhile, her husband, Jim, who sits on the BSO’s non-voting board of advisers, added they were disappointed the parties didn’t reach a “more harmonious” conclusion.
Longtime subscriber Ginger Holbrook said the BSO sounds terrific under Nelsons and is upset leadership terminated him.
“The orchestra loves him,” she said. “That’s magic, and I can’t imagine why they’re changing that. That balance is really important.”
Another overriding concern of patrons: What is the BSO’s plan going forward?
“What’s the future?” asked longtime BSO subscriber Chester Conrad. He added that classical music faces many challenges today, and symphony orchestras likely must evolve if they want to survive, let alone thrive. Nevertheless, he said, BSO leadership has given precious little indication of its future plans. “What’s next?”
Conrad was joined by Margery Gann, who added that Nelsons’ busy travel schedule may have kept him from becoming better known in Boston. She added, however, that given Nelsons’ unceremonious dismissal, there weren’t clear candidates to replace him.
“This is not a simple process,” said Gann. “It’s not a lot of time to engage someone else.”
On Friday, the BSO’s board of trustees emailed a letter to stakeholders that sought to soothe people’s concerns and offer more clarity about the organization’s future direction.
“We recognize that change is hard,” the trustees wrote in the letter, sent to subscribers, volunteers, staff, donors, and others. “We understand that many in our community have different perspectives on how to meet this moment, and we respect that.”
The email describes some of the BSO’s financial challenges, adding that leadership has held “hundreds of conversations about our future with the BSO community.”
“What has emerged is a strategic framework built on three pillars: programming, partnerships, and place,” the board wrote. “We are reimagining how orchestral music reaches broader audiences, deepening our roots as a civic institution.”
The letter, which describes the board as “unified in our decision-making,” followed a tense meeting Smith and many of the trustees held with musicians before Thursday’s concert. Musicians who attended the meeting said their colleagues asked difficult questions of Smith and board chair Barbara Hostetter, who reportedly has sought Nelsons’ ouster for years.
Still, the musicians said they didn’t receive many satisfying answers, particularly when it came the organization’s future.
“It felt like we were being asked to invest in something that’s been artistically bankrupted without a concrete plan for its recovery,” said one musician who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. “Their explanation for everything was, basically, we’re running deficits. ... What they’re saying is the first and best way to balance the budget is to get rid of Andris.”
According to its latest available tax filing, the BSO paid Nelsons more than $1.7 million in the fiscal year that ended in August 2024. That same year, the BSO paid an aggregate of more than $2.6 million to three chief executives — Smith, former president Gail Samuel, and former interim president Jeffrey Dunn — according to the tax filing.
Despite the chasm that now divides the two camps, some concertgoers Thursday held out hope the BSO board would reconsider its decision to remove Nelsons.
“At least open it up to some discussion,” said Peggy Weymouth, who was on her way into Symphony Hall with Holbrook.
Passions remained high all evening, as the orchestra and audience sought little ways to show support for Nelsons. He accompanied musicians onstage before tuning for the “Manfred” Symphony. The conductor clasped hands with concertmaster Nathan Cole and principal cello Blaise Dejardin during a standing ovation, and one of the members onstage got a stomp going to support him.
The message was clear: Their beloved maestro was back — for the time being.
Editor’s note: Barbara Hostetter, chair of the BSO’s Board of Trustees, is the co-founder of the Barr Foundation, which has supported the Globe’s reporting on education and inequality.
Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com. A.Z. Madonna can be reached at az.madonna@globe.com. Follow her @knitandlisten.