The Latvian born musician will also continue to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra as the basis for ‘a pioneering alliance’

It is one of the most prestigious roles in classical music, and now the question of who will take up the baton has finally been answered. In a move that will see him following in the footsteps of Mendelssohn, the Latvian-born conductor Andris Nelsons has been named the new conductor of Leipzig’s venerable Gewandhaus Orchestra.

In what was described on Wednesday as “a pioneering alliance” between two of classical music’s most esteemed institutions, the 36-year-old will continue to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which recently extended his contract through at least 2022, at the same time as embarking on a five-year contract at the Gewandhaus Orchestra from 2017.

The appointment sets up a transatlantic collaboration that will see the Boston Symphony performing in Leipzig and the Gewandhaus Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Boston. In the 2017-18 season, a joint commissioning program is expected to start with a new work by the German composer Jörg Widmann. The managers of both orchestras are also planning educational initiatives.

Nelsons succeeds Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly, 62, at the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which was once led by Mendelssohn and has premiered works by icons such as Schubert, Schumann and Wagner.

Chailly is principal conductor of the opera house of La Scala, Milan, and was named last month as the new music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, an appointment believed to have secured the long-term future of an orchestra synonymous with its founder, Claudio Abbado, who died in 2014.

Meanwhile, speaking of his new role Nelsons said: “Being appointed as the next Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester is a completely overwhelming honour.”

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“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,” he added.

Andreas Schulz, the Leipzig orchestra’s general director, described Nelsons as “a consummate magician of sound”. Schulz added: “I am so thankful that we have been successful in securing him for our orchestra and thus for the music city Leipzig..

“Together with him we will establish new exciting artistic standards which will apply both for the core repertoire of the Gewandhausorchester as well as for contemporary music.”

Born in Riga in 1978 into a family of musicians, Nelsons began his career as a trumpeter in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra. After studying conducting, he was music director of Latvian National Opera 2003-2007, principal conductor of Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany 2006-2009, and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2015.

He gave his debut performance with the Gewandhausorchester with works by Richard Strauss, Beethoven and Sibelius in December 2011.

It was announced yesterday that Nelsons will continue collaborations in the coming season, with Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest and Philharmonia Orchestra.