Tanglewood Tickets on Sale February 14

Blockbuster 74th Season in the Berkshires.

By: Charles Giuliano - Feb 11, 2010

Seiji Ozawa returns this summer.

Audra McDonald will be a guest artist.

Carole King teams with James Taylor for a blockbuster Fourth of July weekend.

We will hear a lot of maestro James Levine.

Pops programs with Keith Lockhart are always a pleasure.

John Williams will conduct a Film Night.

Yo Yo Ma returns with the Silk Road Project.

 

       Tickets for the 2010 Tanglewood season, June 26-September 5, go on sale February 14, online at www.tanglewood.org  or by phone at 888-266-1200. Now in its 74th season, Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, located in the Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
 
       The Boston Symphony OrchestraÂ’s Tanglewood season opens on July 9 with BSO Music Director James Levine leading the orchestra in MahlerÂ’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, featuring soprano Layla Claire and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Maestro Levine also leads the BSO in StravinskyÂ’s Symphony of Psalms and MozartÂ’s Requiem (July 16), MozartÂ’s The Abduction from the Seraglio (July 23), and two fully-staged performances of StraussÂ’s Ariadne auf Naxos with the Tanglewood Music Center vocal fellows and orchestra, part of a season-long celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSOÂ’s premier summer music academy for gifted young musicians.
 
ADDITIONAL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

       2010 Tanglewood season highlights include Seiji Ozawa leading an all-Brahms program (July 24); Keith Lockhart leading the Boston Pops Orchestra in two concerts celebrating the orchestraÂ’s 125th anniversary season on July 2, and on July 18 with Folk music icon Arlo Guthrie; and John Williams conducting the ever-popular Film Night (August 14), this year celebrating Mr. WilliamsÂ’ 30th summer at Tanglewood,  James Taylor and Carole King, along with a band of legendary musicians, return to Tanglewood as part of their 2010 Troubadour Reunion tour (July 3, 4, and 5); Garrison Keillor returns for the annual live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion (June 26); and the Mark Morris Dance Group (June 27 and 28) returns to collaborate with musicians from the Tanglewood Music Center on a program featuring a new work choreographed to traditional folks songs arranged by Beethoven. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor, celebrates its 40th anniversary with performances of StravinskyÂ’s Symphony of Psalms and MozartÂ’s Requiem (July 16), MahlerÂ’s Symphony No. 2 (July 9) and Symphony No. 3 (July 17), PoulencÂ’s Gloria (August 28), and BeethovenÂ’s Ninth Symphony, the BSOÂ’s traditional season-ending concert led by Kurt Masur (August 29).  

         Tanglewood on Parade (August 3), one of the summerÂ’s most popular events, featuring performances throughout the day by fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center and topped off in the evening with a concert featuring the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, led by James Levine, Keith Lockhart, and John Williams. The program, a salute to John Williams on his 30th Tanglewood summer, showcases his concert and film scores, and concludes with the traditional TOP finale, TchaikovskyÂ’s 1812 Overture with cannons and bells, followed by a fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl.  

FESTIVAL GUEST ARTISTS

       The incomparable Yo-Yo Ma brings his internationally renowned Silk Road Ensemble to Tanglewood in celebration of the groupÂ’s 10th anniversary (August 8). In Beowulf: The Epic in Performance, medievalist Benjamin Bagby, accompanying himself on a six-stringed harp, vividly recreates, through song and speech, the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf (July 21). Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads the multi-media Caminos del Inka: A Musical Journey (August 13), featuring BSO, principal flutist Elizabeth Rowe, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein performing music along with specially created videography by Peruvian photographer Gabriela Fit that evokes the rich colorful history and breathtaking landscapes of the ancient Inca empire.

       Among the venerable guest conductors to lead the BSO during the 2010 season are popular Spanish conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (July 10 & 11), Charles Dutoit (July 30 & August 1), Christoph von Dohnányi (August 6 & 8), and David Zinman (August 27 & 28). Young Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki (August 21) makes her Tanglewood debut and Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerro (August 22) makes his BSO debut.  

The 2010 season features appearances by some of the classical music worldÂ’s most renowned artists in solo performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Koussevitzky Music Shed and in recital programs at Ozawa Hall. Featured artists include singers Stepanie Blythe (July 9), Soile Isokoski (July 16), Audra McDonald (July 18), Matthias Goerne (July 29), Bernarda Fink (August 5), and Dawn Upshaw (August 20); pianists Peter Serkin (July 24), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (August 10), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (August 15), and  Emanuel Ax (August 28); violinists Pinchas Zukerman (July 11), Hilary Hahn (August 7), Joshua Bell (August 21), and Gil Shaham (August 22); and cellists Lynn Harrell (July 25) Yo-Yo Ma (August 1), and Steven Isserlis (August 18), as well as Pieter Wispelwey, who offers Tanglewood audiences a rare opportunity to hear J. S. BachÂ’s Complete Suites for solo cello in one concert (July 22).  
 
SEASON-ENDING JAZZ FESTIVAL

       The Tanglewood Jazz Festival takes place over Labor Day Weekend, September 4 and 5. All performances are held in Seiji Ozawa Hall and featured performers include the Laurence Hobgood Trio, the Kurt Elling Quartet and a special live broadcast of Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey (September 4). Performers scheduled for September 5 include clarinetist Eddie Daniels, keyboardist Bob James, the Julian Lage Group, the Donal Fox Quartet, and the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. Tanglewood Jazz Festival 2010 is sponsored by JazzCorner.com.
 
GENERAL TICKET INFORMATION

       2010 Tanglewood season tickets, ranging from $9 to $115, go on sale to the general public on Sunday, February 14. Tickets are available through TanglewoodÂ’s website, www.tanglewood.org (beginning at 8 a.m. on February 14), through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200 (beginning at 10 a.m. on February 14), or by visiting the Boston Symphony Orchestra Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA (beginning at 10 a.m. on February 14). There is a service charge for each ticket purchased online or by phone. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee. Tickets for James Taylor and Carole King on July 3, 4, and 5 are sold out through the Tanglewood website. To purchase tickets for the July 5 concert visit the James Taylor or Carole King fan clubs at www.jamestaylor.com or www.caroleking.com.    

                Tickets are also available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at TanglewoodÂ’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of June 18. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, personal checks, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.bso.org.