The CBSO have announced that Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla will succeed Andris Nelsons as their Music Director in September 2016. She has signed an initial three-year contract.

Gražinytė-Tyla won the Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2012 and is currently Assistant Conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater.

She made her CBSO debut last year and the chemistry was immediate. Of the appointment, Gražinytė-Tyla said: ‘Every single musician of the CBSO is an artist with great individuality and sense of responsibility. They are driven to be one of the world’s leading orchestras and their shared spirit for team work helps them to achieve this. I felt so at ease working with the Orchestra at the CBSO Centre and at Symphony Hall and I can't wait to get started and to call these my homes too. I am also very excited about working with the CBSO family including its brilliant choirs led by Simon Halsey, and  getting involved with its extensive learning and participation programme both locally and further afield. I believe we will be a great team and really look forward to making music together.’

CBSO Chief Executive Stephen Maddock added: ‘We are absolutely delighted to be appointing Mirga as the CBSO’s next Music Director. There was an instant chemistry between Mirga and our musicians, and the excitement in Symphony Hall at her concerts both on stage and in the audience was palpable. The CBSO is world-famous for its track record in finding brilliant young conducting talent: Sir Simon Rattle, appointed at just 25 years old, held the post for 18 years before moving to the Berlin Philharmonic. He passed the baton to the superbly talented Sakari Oramo (appointed at 30), who is now with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Andris Nelsons (appointed at 28) had seven wonderful years here and has gone on to lead the Boston Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. Mirga is 29 and is thrilling audiences wherever she goes: we can’t wait to start making music with her.’