Getting More Out of Tanglewood Concerts
Lenox Library Lectures by Jeremy Yudkin
By: Heather Greenfield - Jul 05, 2010
This is for all music lovers who go to Tanglewood but don't know that much about classical music.
The Lenox Library offers fascinating pre-concert lectures given on Friday and Saturday afternoons from 2:30 to 4 PM. The lecturer is Jeremy Yudkin, a Professor of Music at Oxford University, and Chair of the Musicology and Ethnomusicology Department at Boston University.
People rave about the experience.
Sample reviews include the following comments: " “The best teacher on any subject I’ve ever had!” “Jeremy turns the BSO’s concerts into almost spiritual experiences.” “He makes the Tanglewood concerts come alive!”
On a typical day, Jeremy will breeze into the room, grinning and shaking hands with participants. Many of them seem to be old friends and have been coming to the lectures for years. He then launches into an introduction to the upcoming concert, giving background on the composers and compositions.
Yudkin welcomes all questions. But it is when he begins to talk about the music that he really comes alive. His enthusiasm is infectious. Jeremy waves his arms about, swoons at certain passages, makes jokes ("The violins have been waiting for ages!), and conducts the recordings.
It seems like he’s having the time of his life. (He often talks about his teaching life in glowing terms. "And they pay me to do this!")
There is a phenomenal sound system that fills the Lenox Library's Welles Gallery, which is lined with original paintings in a current art show.
Along the way, you learn not only about the particular piece he is discussing but about all the pieces on the program that night. And the payoff comes in two ways. First, when you go to the concert and you understand and appreciate so much more of what is going on. But more than that, Jeremy seems to have taught you how to listen to all classical music with more focus and enjoyment.
Jeremy is a Berkshire resident and has been teaching these lectures for over twenty years. They seem to be the best-kept secret at Tanglewood, and one of Jeremy's bylines is "Enjoy the music twice as much."
Cost of the lectures is $25 a day or $40 per weekend. If they make your Tanglewood tickets worth twice as much, the lectures are a bargain. For more information go to www.SummerMusicSeminars.org or email Jeremy at YudkinJaf@gmail.com.