The title of the TV show is misleading: 3sat is actually showing the inaugural concert of the Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra on September 27, 2014. At 35 years old at the time, he is by far the youngest person to hold this position in the traditional orchestra. The soloists in the concert are the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the soprano Kristine Opolais, with whom Nelsons has been married since 2009.
The program includes arias by Richard Wagner, Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni as well as Ottorino Respighi's symphonic poem "Pini di Roma". The concert opens with Wagner's "Tannhäuser" overture - the work that inspired Andris Nelsons to a life of music at the age of five.