Highlights of the 2016 Tanglewood season include BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leading Boston Symphony Orchestra in Acts 1 & 2 of Verdi’s Aida with Kristine Opolais in the title role (8/20); Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (7/29); Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (7/30); and music from Prokofiev’s Romeo And Juliet (8/21), plus music of Berlioz, Corigliano, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, and Tsontakis, as well as the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra’s annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert (7/31), an All-Brahms Program pairing the Symphony No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 1 with Paul Lewis as soloist.
The 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music (7/21-25), under the direction of Steven Stucky, to present the U.S. Premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream Of The Song, on a program with Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony (7/25), featuring Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center—The BSO’s acclaimed Summer Music Academy; TMC also to present a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, on a program with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, featuring vocalists Dawn Upshaw and Sanford Sylvan (8/8).
The first Boston Symphony Orchestra concert of the 2016 Tanglewood Season takes place on July 8, with Joshua Bell performing Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 on a program with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and music of Ravel, under the direction of Jacques Lacombe. Christoph Von Dohnányi leads the BSO’s season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on August 28.
The 2016 Tanglewood season opens June 25 with A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and NPR’s Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me with host Peter Sagal returns to the festival (9/1) for one of the final performances of the season over Labor Day Weekend.
The 2016 Tanglewood season, June 25-September 3, offers visitors a wide-ranging schedule of performances and events with some of the biggest names in the classical music world and beyond, including Andris Nelsons, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Renée Fleming, Paul Lewis, Yo-Yo Ma, Kristine Opolais, Dawn Upshaw, and Yuja Wang featured with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Boston Pops concerts including one with guest artist Seth MacFarlane, with Keith Lockhart conducting, and the ever popular John Williams’ Film Night; Ozawa Hall performances by Jordi Savall, the Chick Corea Trio, Chanticleer, and the Emerson String Quartet; and favorite radio programs A Prairie Home Companion and Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! live from the Koussevitzky Music Shed. The 2016 Tanglewood season will also feature Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center—the BSO’s acclaimed summer music academy—in orchestra, chamber music, and recital performances throughout the summer; highlights include a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins and the U.S. premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song, part of the 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music, July 21-25, under the direction of Pulitzer prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky.
While James Taylor is expected to perform twice next summer, a full schedule of Popular Artist concerts, including performances to take place on July 3 and 4, among other dates, will be announced in the New Year.
In conjunction with the announcement of the 2016 Tanglewood season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra will release the first episode of New Tanglewood Tales: Life On Stage and Off, the second season of the orchestra’s web series, now available at www.tanglewood.org and www.youtube.com/BostonSymphony. New Tanglewood Tales: Life On Stage and Off follows five musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and BSO Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur through their 2015 season at Tanglewood. The remaining five episodes of New Tanglewood Tales will become available in the spring, leading up to the 2016 Tanglewood season.
Beyond its impressive lineup of near-daily performances throughout the summer, June 25 through September 3, the 2016 Tanglewood season also offers One Day University (8/28), on-site cafes and fine dining venues, free educational programs for children and adults designed to enhance the concert experience, and discounted ticket programs to encourage newcomers to experience the great breadth and scope of the many activities Tanglewood has to offer. Patrons 17 years of age and younger can attend concerts throughout the summer free of charge. Tanglewood also offers free tours of the beautiful Tanglewood grounds, surrounded by the Berkshire Hills and overlooking the Stockbridge Bowl. Further information about these programs and the performance schedule is available at www.tanglewood.org.
One of the premier summer music festivals in the world and the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, Tanglewood is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills between Stockbridge and Lenox, Massachusetts. Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood season, $12-$124, go on sale January 24 starting at 10 a.m. through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA.
Andris Nelsons to lead five programs July 29, 30, 31, August 20 and 21
Andris Nelsons, in his second season as BSO Music Director, will conduct five performances during the 2016 Tanglewood season, including, on August 20, Acts I and II of Verdi’s Aida with soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role and tenor Andrea Carè^^ as Radamès, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. For his first concert of the 2016 Tanglewood season on July 29, Mr. Nelsons will lead the BSO in Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, the first work he and the BSO performed together, setting him on the path to becoming the orchestra’s fifteenth music director (Carnegie Hall, March 2011). The program will also feature Jonathan Biss in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat.
On Sunday, July 30, Augustin Hadelich joins Mr. Nelsons and the BSO for Sibelius’s Violin Concerto; the program opens with John Corigliano’s Fantasia on an Ostinato and closes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. For his final concert of the season on August 21, Mr. Nelsons will offer a Shakespeare-themed program in honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death: Berlioz’s Overture to Béatrice and Bénédict opens a program also to include music from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and a new, BSO-commissioned work by George Tsontakis — Sonnets, Concerto for English horn and orchestra, written for and featuring BSO English horn player Robert Sheena. On that same program, Croatian pianist Dejan Lazi?^^, in his BSO debut, joins Mr. Nelsons and the BSO for a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian.
Maestro Nelsons will also work closely with the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in presenting an all-Brahms program for the annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert (7/31), featuring the composer’s Symphony No. 1 and the Piano Concerto No. 1 with Paul Lewis as soloist.
Opening and closing concerts of 2016 Tanglewood season
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of the 2016 Tanglewood season will take place on Friday, July 8, with Joshua Bell performing Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, on a program with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, under the direction of Canadian conductor Jacques Lacombe. Christoph von Dohnányi leads the BSO’s traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on August 28, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and soloists including soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose^, tenor Joseph Kaiser, and bass Gunther Groissböck^. The 2016 Tanglewood season opens on June 25 with A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, now in its 42nd year of broadcasts; NPR’s popular news quiz show Wait, Wait,…Don’t Tell Me! with host Peter Sagal returns to the festival (9/1) for one of the final performances of the 2016 Tanglewood season over Labor Day weekend.
Charles Dutoit is named 2016 Koussevitzky Artist
Charles Dutoit, one of the BSO’s most popular guest conductors since his debut with the orchestra in 1981, has been named the 2016 Koussevitzky Artist, an honorary title reflecting the BSO’s deep appreciation for his generous commitment to the 2016 Tanglewood season, and for his extraordinary 30-plus-year dedication to leading the BSO at Tanglewood and at Symphony Hall in Boston, as well as on tour to China and Japan, stepping in at the last minute for an ailing Lorin Maazel in spring 2014. In recent BSO seasons at Symphony Hall in Boston, Maestro Dutoit has been featured in a special series of concerts of major works of the first half of the 20th century, including music by Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Martin, Rachmaninoff, and Hindemith, among others, as part of a multi-year survey encompassing repertoire of which he is a foremost interpreter.
For the 2016 Tanglewood season, Maestro Dutoit leads two BSO concerts in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, August 12 and 19, and a special chamber ensemble concert at Ozawa Hall on August 18. On August 12, Maestro Dutoit leads the orchestra in the overture to Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Debussy’s La Mer, and Ravel’s Bolero, on a program with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat, with soloist Emanuel Ax, who was awarded the inaugural Koussevitzky Artist recognition, along with Yo-Yo Ma, in summer 2015. On August 19, Menahem Pressler joins Maestro Dutoit and the BSO for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, on a program with the overture to The Marriage of Figaro and Rossini’s Stabat Mater, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a cast of vocal soloists to be announced. For his chamber ensemble concert on August 18, Charles Dutoit and Friends, Mr. Dutoit, in collaboration with violinist Chantal Juillet, will conduct some of his favorite works for chamber ensemble, including Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto (soloist to be announced) and Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale.
BSO is joined by impressive lineup of pianists
In addition to the pianists previously mentioned, including Emanuel Ax, Jonathan Biss, Dejan Lazi^^, Paul Lewis (performing with the TMCO), and Menahem Pressler, the 2016 Tanglewood season boasts an impressive list of pianists joining the BSO: Yefim Bronfman (Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, 8/5), Nelson Freire (Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9, 8/7), Garrick Ohlsson (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, 7/23), Danill Trifonov (Chopin Concerto No. 2, 8/6), and Yuja Wang (Ravel Piano Concerto in G and Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, 7/17), as well as a BSO debut by Igor Levit^^ (Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3, 8/14).
Additional BSO highlights
On July 9, Jacques Lacombe will lead the BSO in Orff’s Carmina burana and one of the orchestra’s signature works — Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé Suite No. 2 — with vocalists including soprano Nadine Sierra^^, tenor Jean-Francis Monvoisin^^, and baritone Stephen Powell, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. 2015 Koussevitzky Artist Yo-Yo Ma will perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on August 27 (details to be announced). Renée Fleming will perform Strauss’s Four Last Songs (7/16) on a program with Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Tchaikovksy’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi, who also leads the BSO in its season-ending performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on August 28. Pinchas Zukerman doubles as conductor and violinist for an all-Mozart program on July 15.
The 2016 Tanglewood season will also see the debuts of German conductor David Afkham^^ (Schumann Symphony No. 4 and music of Beethoven, 8/14); Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno^^ (Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird and music of Prokofiev, Ravel, and Gershwin, 7/17), and BSO Assistant Conductor Moritz Gnann^^ (Mahler Symphony No. 1 and music of Mozart, 8/7) along with return engagements by Sir Andrew Davis (Sibelius Symphony No. 5, Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and music of Dvo?ák, 7/22) and Stéphane Denève, who joins Giancarlo Guerrero and John Williams for the annual Tanglewood on Parade concert, featuring the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, on August 2.
Juanjo Mena joins the BSO for two concerts, starting with a program to include Falla’s complete The Three-Cornered Hat (7/23), followed by a program of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, with music of Ginastera and Mozart (7/24). Giancarlo Guerrero also leads the BSO in two programs: Adams’ Harmonielehre opens a program to include Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and music of Chopin (8/6); his second program includes Dvo?ák’s Serenade for Winds, Britten’s arrangement of Mahler’s What the Wild Flowers Tell Me, Brahms’s Serenade No. 2, and music of Liszt (8/5).
Boston Pops with Keith Lockhart, John Williams’ Film Night, and Tanglewood on Parade
Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops in two performances, the first a concert featuring Seth MacFarlane^ singing favorites from the American Songbook (7/10), the second a performance of the score to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to accompany a live showing of the popular film (8/26). Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams makes a welcome return to the festival to lead the ever-popular John Williams’ Film Night on August 13.
One of Tanglewood’s most beloved summer traditions, Tanglewood on Parade, will take place on August 2: a full day of performances throughout the grounds, culminating in a concert by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, with a grand finale performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, followed by a spectacular fireworks show over the Stockbridge Bowl.
Following the success of their 2015 concert, members of the Boston Pops Brass and Percussion Sections again join forces with several of America’s leading drum-and-bugle corps, including the Boston Crusaders, Phantom Regiment, Blue Coats, and Cadets for a performance on July 6. In addition, Yo-Yo Ma and the highly acclaimed Silk Road Ensemble return to Tanglewood on August 7.
Tanglewood Music Center Highlights
In addition to the all-Brahms program under Andris Nelsons on July 31, performance highlights of the Tanglewood Music Center — the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s prestigious summer music academy training the next generation of top classical musicians — include the U.S. premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song, on a program with Messiaen’s monumental Turangalîla Symphony (7/25), the final program of the 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music, under the direction of Steven Stucky. In addition, the orchestra and Vocal Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) will present a semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, on a program with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, with TMC faculty vocalists Dawn Upshaw and Sanford Sylvan as soloists, under the direction of TMC faculty member Stefan Asbury.
On July 18, Christoph von Dohnányi leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, on a program with additional works to be announced, led by TMC Conducting Fellows. On August 15, Charles Dutoit leads the TMCO in Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Gil Shaham as soloist, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The TMCO’s first concert of the summer will take place on July 10 (details to be announced).
2016 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, JULY 21-25
Pulitzer prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky is director of 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music
Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Steven Stucky will be the Director of the 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music, which will focus on 20th-century giants such as Messiaen, Lutos?awski, Boulez, and Donatoni, as well as introduce composers who have made big impressions in recent years, including Australian composer Brett Dean and Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, among others. English composer George Benjamin, who has a strong and ongoing relationship with Tanglewood, will be represented during FCM by a performance of the U.S. premiere of his new work, Dream of the Song for countertenor, women’s voices, and orchestra, a TMC75 commission, and the festival will also feature the world premiere of Brad Meltzer’s Variations on a Summer Day, the world premiere and TMC Commission of a work for voice, violin, viola, and double bass by young American composer Erin Gee, the U.S. premiere of Joseph Phibbs’s String Quartet No. 1, and the East Coast premiere of Steven Stucky’s Chamber Concerto.
Quote from Steven Stucky
“There are family trees, lineages, speaking across the generations to bring us the solace of tradition and continuity, but leavened too by the spark of innovation,” said Steven Stucky, Director of the 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music. “Running throughout these programs are connections both personal and artistic. First, Messiaen taught Boulez, then both George Benjamin and the late, beloved Jonathan Harvey, whom we memorialize with his gorgeous Song Offerings for soprano and chamber ensemble. Second, a tight-knit group of friends —including Salonen, Lindberg, Hillborg, and me — have mutually influenced and supported one another for years, and we share a number of concerns in common. Meanwhile, Lutoslawski was a chief mentor and father-figure to Salonen, Lindberg, and me, and an important presence too in Joseph Phibbs’s music; and in turn both Salonen and I have also mentored Phibbs, as has Tanglewood’s own Colin Matthews. Matthews, Benjamin, and Donald Crockett have all taught Elizabeth Ogonek.”
Ozawa Hall Highlights
Ozawa Hall will present an eclectic and creative mix of programming with such prestigious ensembles as Hespèrion XXI with Jordi Savall joined by the Mexican folklore ensemble Tembembe Ensamble Continuo^ in a program of music inspired by the “discovery” of the New World (7/7). The Times They Are a Changin’ is the title and theme for a special program to be presented by The Knights on July 14. Chanticleer, in a program entitled Over the Moon, presents a lunar-inspired program of music ranging from Monteverdi, di Lasso, and des Prez, to Elgar and Mahler, contemporary composers Jakko Mäntyjärvi, Stephen Paulus, and Mason Bates, and jazz standards by Mancini and Bart Howard (7/27). Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret features the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Barry Humphries^—Australia’s greatest entertainer, best-known to audiences around the world as Dame Edna Everage—who curate, present, and perform the popular music of Berlin’s Weimar Republic (1920s–1930s) including jazz, cabaret, tango, and Broadway-musical style pieces (8/14). The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Nicholas McGegan, with a cast of six singers and members of the Philharmonia Chorale, will present a concert performance of Scarlatti’s little-known La gloria di primavera (8/25).
Chamber music ensembles to be featured in Ozawa Hall this summer include the Emerson String Quartet performing Haydn’s complete Opus 76 quartets in the first of two programs marking the ensemble’s 40th anniversary season (7/12), and joined in the second by Renée Fleming for Berg’s Lyric Suite and Wellesz’s Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (7/13); the Danish String Quartet^, in its Tanglewood debut, performing music of Nørgård, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven (7/28); and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in music of Françaix, Beethoven, and Spohr, as well as Jeremy Flowers’ Shamu and Clinical for horn, electronics, and piano (8/10).
Ozawa Hall recital programs will also feature pianist Jeremy Denk in a centuries-spanning program entitled Medieval to Modern representing the history of Western music from the medieval and Renaissance worlds of Machaut, Couperin, and Frescobaldi to Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, and the modernists Stravinsky, Cage, Ligeti, and Adams (8/24). Other solo piano recitals will feature Nelson Freire in music of Bach, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin (8/3), and Daniil Trifonov in music of Bach, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff (8/4).
2016 Tanglewood Popular Artist Series
A full schedule of Popular Artist concerts, including performances to take place on July 3 and 4, among other dates, will be announced in the New Year.
FIRST EPISODE OF NEW TANGLEWOOD TALES: LIFE ON STAGE AND OFF NOW AVAILABLE AT WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG AND WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/BOSTONSYMPHONY
The first episode of New Tanglewood Tales: Life On Stage and Off introduces viewers to the five BSO musicians and Assistant Conductor Ken-David Masur, with a special emphasis on BSO cellist Owen Young, who talks about his early experiences at Tanglewood as a Boston University Tanglewood Institute student when he was in high school; violist Cathy Basrak, who works with Tanglewood Music Center students and talks about moving her family out to the Berkshires for the summer and how she came to play in the orchestra; and trumpet player Michael Martin, who performs in the annual Tanglewood Family Concert and talks about engaging kids in the concert experience. The six-episode series will also feature timpanist Timothy Genis, bassoonist Suzanne Nelsen, and BSO assistant conductor Ken-David Masur as they relocate from Boston to Tanglewood, prepare for three BSO programs throughout the summer, and teach at the Tanglewood Music Center—the BSO’s renowned summer music academy. This second season of Tanglewood Tales will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at BSO rehearsals, Tanglewood Music Center coaching, rehearsals, and classes, and other activities the BSO members are involved in each summer. Viewers will get to know each of the featured musicians through one-on-one interviews, as well as group and social interactions. New Tanglewood Tales features Susan Dangel as producer and director, Dick Bartlett as editor, and Russ Fisher as videographer and sound engineer.
TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF AND SEASON DATES
Tanglewood’s 2016 season opens on Saturday, June 25 and closes Saturday, September 3. Tickets, priced from $12 to $124, go on sale Sunday, January 24 at 10 a.m., and are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. $20 tickets for attendees under 40, one of the BSO’s most popular discount ticket offers, will be available for BSO and Boston Pops performances in the Shed. In addition, Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under, as well as a variety of special programs for children, including Kids’ Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place July 9. Additional ticket information appears near the end of this press release.
2016 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WEEK-BY-WEEK PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
PRE-SEASON OFFERING, JUNE 25-JULY 7
GARRISON KEILLOR RETURNS TO TANGLEWOOD WITH A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, JUNE 25; THE TANGLEWOOD BRASS SPECTACULAR! RETURNS FOR A SECOND SEASON WITH MEMBERS OF THE BOSTON POPS AND FOUR WORLD CLASS DRUM CORPS, JULY 6; JORDI SAVALL, HESPÈRION XXI, AND TEMBEMBE ENSAMBLE CONTINUO PERFORM A PROGRAM INSPIRED BY THE “DISCOVERY” OF THE NEW WORLD, JULY 7; A SERIES OF POPULAR ARTISTS WILL PERFORM PRE-SEASON, INCLUDING JULY 4
Kicking off Tanglewood’s 2016 season Saturday, June 25, American Public Media’s A Prairie Home Companion returns to the Tanglewood grounds for the nineteenth consecutive year for its annual live broadcast from the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Host Garrison Keillor and a colorful cast of friends from the shores of Lake Wobegon will take the stage for this perennially popular Tanglewood tradition.
On Wednesday, July 6, the Tanglewood Brass Spectacular! returns for its second year, featuring members of the Boston Pops brass and percussion sections performing a one-of-a-kind concert with four of the world’s best drum corps: the Boston Crusaders, the third oldest drum corps in America; the Rockford, Illinois-based Phantom Regiment; the Bluecoats, from Canton Ohio; and ten-time Drum Corps International World Champions, The Cadets, from Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The universally celebrated Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI combine forces with the Mexican folklore ensemble Tembembe Ensamble Continuo^ on Thursday, July 7 in Ozawa Hall, to offer an intoxicating program of music inspired by the “discovery” of the New World entitled “Folias, Antiguas, and Criollas: From the Ancient to the New World.” A five-person ensemble joins Savall as he explores the connections and interactions among disparate musical traditions ranging from the colonials to the creole, African to indigenous. This program features works by Diego Ortiz and Pedro Guerrero, and colonial and folk music from across South America.
The 2015 Tanglewood pre-season will also include a number of popular artist concerts, to be announced at a later date.
WEEK 1, JULY 8-14
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, AMERICAN VIOLINIST JOSHUA BELL, AND CONDUCTOR JACQUES LACOMBE OPEN THE BSO’S 2016 TANGLEWOOD SEASON WITH MUSIC BY RAVEL, SAINT-SAËNS, AND PROKOFIEV, JULY 8; MR. LACOMBE AND THE BSO PERFORM MUSIC OF DEBUSSY, RAVEL, AND ORFF’S CARMINA BURANA, JULY 9; SETH MACFARLANE JOINS KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS, JULY 10; EMERSON STRING QUARTET PERFORMS JULY 12 AND JULY 13 IN OZAWA HALL, WITH RENÉE FLEMING AS GUEST, JULY 13; THE KNIGHTS RETURN TO TANGLEWOOD, JULY 14
The Boston Symphony Orchestra opens its 2016 Tanglewood season on Friday, July 8, with a program of music by Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Prokofiev, led by conductor Jacques Lacombe. The opening night program will feature American violinist and Tanglewood favorite Joshua Bell as soloist in Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3. Mr. Lacombe opens the program with Ravel’s colorfully Spanish-flavored Alborada del gracioso, and closes it with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, a work composed in just one month in 1944 and given its American premiere in 1945 by Serge Koussevitzky and the BSO.
On Saturday, July 9, at 2:30 p.m., Tanglewood presents its annual Family Concert in Ozawa Hall featuring members of the BSO. The Family Concert provides an engaging and educational concert experience especially for children ages 3-8 and their families. That evening, in the Shed, Mr. Lacombe returns to lead a second program with the BSO. Debussy’s symphonic poem, Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2, two quintessential French Romantic works, open the program. For the second half, Mr. Lacombe and the BSO are joined by soprano Nadine Sierra^^, tenor Jean-Francis Monvoisin^^, and baritone Stephen Powell, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, for Orff’s rousing Carmina burana.
Seth MacFarlane^, best known as the Emmy Award-winning, Oscar- and Grammy-nominated producer, actor, director, and creator of Family Guy, Ted, and American Dad, joins the Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra on Sunday, July 10 as soloist. Mr. MacFarlane joined the orchestra with his rich baritone voice for a selection of favorites from the Great American Songbook, including classic songs from the ‘40s and ‘50s such as “Old Devil Moon,” “I Have Dreamed,” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”
On Tuesday, July 12, and Wednesday, July 13, the Emerson String Quartet returns to Tanglewood to celebrate its 40th anniversary season with two performances in Ozawa Hall. On Tuesday, the ensemble with perform Haydn’s complete Op. 76 quartets, composed between 1796 and 1797. On Wednesday, soprano Renée Fleming joins the Emerson String Quartet for Wellesz’s Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Op. 52, and Berg’s Lyric Suite, for soprano and string quartet. Opening the program is Brahms’s Quartet in A minor.
Brooklyn-based chamber ensemble The Knights returns to Ozawa Hall Thursday, July 14, for a program titled “The Times, They Are A-Changin’,” named for the Bob Dylan song that closes the program. The program will also include Greenstein’s Flute Concerto, featuring soloist Alexandra Sopp; Haydn’s Symphony No. 64, Tempora mutantor (a Latin adage that also means “times change”); Gabriel Kahane’s Crane Palimpsest; jazz staple “The Big Noise from Winnetka,” written by Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc; Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut is the Deepest”; and the Troggs’ “Wild Thing.” Vocalist Christina Courtin^ joins the Knights for a selection of songs on the program.
WEEK 2, JULY 15-20
PINCHAS ZUKERMAN JOINS THE BSO AS CONDUCTOR AND VIOLINIST FOR AN ALL-MOZART PROGRAM, JULY 15; RENÉE FLEMING JOINS CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI AND THE ORCHESTRA FOR STRAUSS’S FOUR LAST SONGS, JULY 16; GUSTAVO GIMENO MAKES HIS BSO DEBUT JULY 17 WITH PIANIST YUJA WANG AS SOLOIST; FRANÇOIS LELEUX, LISA BATIASHVILI, KIM KASHKASHIAN, LYNN HARRELL, AND EMANUEL AX PERFORM A CHAMBER PROGRAM IN OZAWA HALL, JULY 20
Violinist Pinchas Zukerman joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra as both conductor and soloist for an all-Mozart program, Friday, July 15. Mr. Zukerman will lead the BSO in the Haydnesque Symphony No. 25 and one of the composer’s final symphonies, No. 39. The BSO will also perform the composer’s Violin Concerto from Serenade in D, K.250, Haffner.
On Saturday, July 16, revered BSO guest conductor Christoph von Dohnányi returns to Tanglewood, along with celebrated American soprano Renée Fleming, for a performance of Strauss’s emotional Four Last Songs, the last major piece the composer wrote before his death a year later. Also on the program is Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings and Tchaikovsky’s beloved Symphony No. 6, Pathetiqué.
Conductor Gustavo Gimeno^^ makes his BSO debut Sunday, July 17, leading the orchestra in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, Classical, and the suite from Stravinsky’s breakthrough early work, The Firebird. Brilliant Chinese pianist Yuja Wang joins Mr. Gimeno and the BSO for one of Ravel’s finest works, the Piano Concerto in G, and Gershwin’s well-known Rhapsody in Blue.
On Wednesday, July 20, oboist François Leleux^, pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, violist Kim Kashkashian, and cellist Lynn Harrell join forces for a chamber recital of works by composers including Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Debussy, and Britten. Saint-Saëns’s Oboe Sonata in D, Op. 166, opens the program, which also includes two works by Mozart—duets from The Magic Flute, for oboe and violin, and the Mozart Oboe Quartet in F, K.370. Also on the program is Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor and Britten’s Phantasy, Op. 2 for oboe, violin, viola, and cello.
WEEK 3, JULY 22-28
LISA BATIASHVILI JOINS SIR ANDREW DAVIS AND THE BSO FOR DVO?ÁK’S VIOLIN CONCERTO, JULY 22; JUANJO MENA LEADS THE BSO IN TCHAIKOVSKY’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 AND FALLA’S THE THREE-CORNERED HAT WITH SOLOISTS GARRICK OHLSSON AND RAQUEL LOJENDIO, JULY 23; MR. MENA AND THE BSO ARE JOINED BY VIOLINIST VERONIKA EBERLE IN HER BSO DEBUT, JULY 24; CHANTICLEER COMES TO OZAWA HALL JULY 27; THE DANISH STRING QUARTET MAKES ITS TANGLEWOOD DEBUT, JULY 28
On Friday, July 22, Sir Andrew Davis returns to the Shed stage for the first time since 2008. Opening the BSO program is Vaughan Williams’ haunting Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, inspired by the melody of the English Renaissance composer. Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili joins the orchestra for Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, and Sir Andrew and the BSO close the program with Sibelius’s soaring Symphony No. 5.
Juanjo Mena leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two programs, Saturday July 23 and Sunday, July 24. On Saturday, Mr. Mena is joined by Garrick Ohlsson for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Spanish soprano Raquel Lojendio, in her BSO debut, joins the orchestra for the second half of the program, featuring Falla’s complete The Three-cornered Hat, a ballet based on Pedro Antonio comic novella, El sombrero de tres picos. Falla wrote the ballet for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1919. On Sunday, the young German violinist Veronika Eberle^^ makes her BSO debut with Juanjo Mena and the orchestra with a performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4. Also on the program is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes, performed to mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
On Wednesday, July 27, all-male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer returns to Ozawa Hall. “Over the Moon,” Chanticleer’s lunar-inspired program, features early works by Monteverdi, Orlando di Lasso, Josquin des Pres, and Parsons, more romantic yearnings of Elgar and Mahler, and contemporary takes by composers such as Jakko Mäntyjärvi, Stephen Paulus, and Mason Bates. “Over the Moon” will also include treatments of jazz standards by Mancini and Bart Howard, as well as more recent songs by Elbow and others.
The Danish String Quartet^ makes its Tanglewood debut with a Thursday, July 28 performance in Ozawa Hall. The evening program includes is Danish composer Per Nørgård’s Quartet No. 1, Quartetto breve, Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, and Beethoven’s Quartet No. 12 in E-flat, Op. 127.
WEEK 4, JULY 29-AUGUST 4
ANDRIS NELSONS RETURNS TO TANGLEWOOD FOR THREE PERFORMANCES, JULY 29-31: A PROGRAM OF MOZART AND MAHLER WITH PIANIST JONATHAN BISS AND THE BSO, JULY 29; AUGUSTIN HADELICH JOINS MR. NELSONS AND THE ORCHESTRA JULY 30; PIANIST PAUL LEWIS ROUNDS OUT THE WEEKEND ON AN ALL-BRAHMS PROGRAM WITH THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA, JULY 31; CHICK COREA CELEBRATES HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY AT TANGLEWOOD WITH CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE AND BRIAN BLADE, JULY 31; TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE TAKES PLACE AUGUST 2; PIANISTS NELSONS FREIRE (AUGUST 3) AND DANIIL TRIFONOV (AUGUST 4) PERFORM PROGRAMS IN OZAWA HALL
Andris Nelsons takes the podium July 29-31 for his first of two weekends of programs during the Tanglewood 2016 season. Pianist Jonathan Biss helps kick off the weekend with Mozart’s final piano concerto, No. 27 in B-flat, K.595 on a program also including Mahler’s last completed work, his Symphony No. 9, one of the most emotionally affecting works in the entire orchestral repertoire and the first work the BSO and Andris Nelsons ever performed together.
On Saturday, July 30, Maestro Nelsons pairs John Corigliano’s expressive Fantasia on an Ostinato with the work that inspired it, Beethoven’s rousing Symphony No. 7, one of the composer’s most popular works. Violinist Augustin Hadelich also joins Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra for Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, a pinnacle of the concerto repertoire.
English pianist Paul Lewis joins Andris Nelsons and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra on Sunday, July 31, for an all-Brahms program opening with Piano Concerto No. 1. Nelsons also leads the BSO in the composer’s lyrical and powerful Symphony No. 1. On Sunday evening in Ozawa Hall, the Chick Corea Trio is joined by special guests Christian McBride and Brian Blade to celebrate Chick Corea’s 75th birthday.
One of the festival’s most beloved traditions, the ever-popular Tanglewood on Parade takes place this year on Tuesday, August 2, giving audiences a chance to hear all of the festival’s orchestras perform in a single concert. Guest conductors Stéphane Denève and Giancarlo Guerrero and Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams will lead this gala program, ending with the traditional TOP finale, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. This festive concert features performances by the BSO, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, followed by fireworks over the Stockbridge Bowl.
Pianists Nelson Freire and Daniil Trifonov will perform recitals in Ozawa Hall, August 3 and 4. On Wednesday, August 3, Nelson Freire will perform Bach’s Partita No. 4; Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32; Shostakovich’s Three Fantastic Dances; Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G-flat, Op. 23, No. 10 and Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 31, No. 12; and Chopin’s Sonata No. 3. The following night, Thursday, November 4, young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performs Bach’s Chaconne, from Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, arranged by Brahms for the left hand; Liszt’s Grandes Études de Paganini, and Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 1.
WEEK 5, AUGUST 5-10
GIANCARLO GUERRERO LEADS PROGRAMS WITH WORLD CLASS PIANISTS YEFIM BRONFMAN AND DANIIL TRIFONOV, AUGUST 5 & 6; BSO ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR MORITZ GNANN MAKES HIS BSO DEBUT WITH PIANIST NELSON FREIRE, AUGUST 7; YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE PERFORM IN THE SHED, AUGUST 7; THE BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS MAKE THEIR ANNUAL TANGLEWOOD APPEARANCE, AUGUST 10
Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in two programs, August 5 and 6, both featuring world-class pianists. On Friday, August 5, Mr. Guerrero is joined by Yefim Bronfman for Liszt’s sparkling, one movement Piano Concerto No. 2. The program will also feature the BSO in Dvo?ák’s Serenade for Winds, Britten’s arrangement of Mahler’s What the Wild Flowers Tell Me (the original second movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3), and Brahms’ Serenade No. 2, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann. On Saturday, August 6, 24-year-old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov takes the stage with Giancarlo Guerrero for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The program will open with John Adams’s 1985 three-movement composition, Harmonielehre (German for “study of harmory”). Strauss’s rollicking and virtuosic tone poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks closes the program.
On Sunday, August 7, BSO assistant conductor Moritz Gnann^^ will make his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at Tanglewood with works by Mozart and Mahler. Nelson Freire joins Mr. Gnann for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, considered the composer’s first masterwork of the piano genre and written in 1777 he was just 21. The program closes with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.
That evening in the Shed, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble return to Tanglewood, where the ensemble first performed in 2000. With musicians from around the globe, the Ensemble will perform a program that reflects a diversity of styles and nationalities, combining Western and non-Western instruments from the old and new worlds in ways that transcend cultural boundaries.
The Boston Symphony Chamber Players make their annual Tanglewood appearance on Wednesday, August 10, in Ozawa Hall. Opening the program are Boston-based electronic music composer and pianist Jeremy Flower’s Shamu and Clinical for horn, electronics, and piano, with Mr. Flower joining the ensemble on piano and electronics. The program also features Jean Françaix’s Divertissement for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon; Beethoven’s String Trio in G, Op. 9, No. 1; and the 1813 Nonet by Beethoven’s younger contemporary and colleague Louis Spohr.
WEEK 6, AUGUST 12-18
2016 TANGLEWOOD KOUSSEVITZKY ARTIST CHARLES DUTOIT IS JOINED BY EMANUEL AX FOR HIS FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE 2016 TANGLEWOOD SEASON, AUGSUT 12; JOHN WILLIAMS FILM NIGHT TAKES PLACE AUGUST 13; CONDUCTOR DAVID AFKHAM AND PIANIST IGOR LEVIT MAKE THEIR BSO DEBUTS, AUGUST 14; BARRY HUMPHRIES AND MEOW MEOW JOIN THE AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA IN CONCERT, AUGUST 14; GIL SHAHAM PERFORMS BACH IN OZAWA HALL, AUGUST 17; CHARLES DUTOIT LEADS A CHAMBER PROGRAM OF SOME OF HIS FAVORITE WORKS, AUGUST 18
Tanglewood’s 2016 Koussevitzky Artist, Charles Dutoit, conducts his first of several performances with the BSO on Friday, August 12. The program opens with the overture to Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, a piece the BSO hasn’t performed since 1984; followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring pianist Emanuel Ax. Maestro Dutoit will also lead the BSO in Debussy’s La Mer and Ravel’s Bolero, two major French works of the first half of the 20th century and repertoire for which Maestro Dutoit is a foremost interpreter.
A beloved summer condition continues on Saturday, August 13, with John Williams’ Film Night, featuring conductor John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. John Williams’ Film Night has long been established as one of the Tanglewood calendar’s most consistently appreciated evenings. With the Boston Pops, Mr. Williams will present an evening celebration of the music of Hollywood and beyond, including music by Mr. Williams himself.
For The Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Memorial Concert on Sunday, August 14, German conductor David Afkham^^ and Russian-German pianist Igor Levit^^ make their BSO debuts in an afternoon program of Beethoven and Schumann in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Mr. Afkham will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, written for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s 1804 play; as well as Schumann’s ambitious Symphony No. 4. Mr. Levit performs Beethoven’s dramatic and turbulent Piano Concerto No. 3 as the centerpiece of this program.
Later that evening, Barry Humphries^—one of Australia’s greatest entertainers, best known to audiences around the world as Dame Edna Everage—curates, presents, and performs in Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret, a program presented by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The concert will feature music of Berlin’s Weimar Republic (1920s-1930s) including jazz, cabaret, tango, and Broadway-musical style pieces. The hedonistic partying and social revolution of this era is re-awakened in this full-throttle concert, featuring transgressive cabaret sensation Meow Meow^ in the racier numbers, as well as songs by Kurt Weill including The Threepenny Opera‘s “Pirate Jenny,” and the music of Krenek, Schulhoff, Toch, Brandt, Grosz, and more.
On Wednesday, August 17, violinist Gil Shaham will perform Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in a recital performance. The six works were completed by Bach in 1720 and are considered some of the most challenging and transcendent works for solo violin in the repertoire. After over 30 years of exploring these Sonatas and Partitas as a professional violinist, Mr. Shaham recently released a recording of them on Canary Classics in March 2015, and brings his interpretation to Ozawa Hall this summer.
Charles Dutoit, in collaboration with violinist Chantal Juillet, presents Charles Dutoit and Friends, Thursday, August 18. Maestro Dutoit and Ms. Juillet will select and direct some of Mr. Dutoit’s favorite works for chamber ensemble, including Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto and Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. Mr. Dutoit, a 2016 Koussevitzky Artist, will be joined for this program by a chamber ensemble and a number of actors.
WEEK 7, AUGUST 19-25
MAESTRO DUTOIT LEADS A PROGRAM OF MOZART AND ROSSINI WITH SOLOISTS INCLUDING MENAHEM PRESSLER, AUGUST 19; BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR ANDRIS NELSONS RETURNS FOR TWO PERFORMANCES WITH THE BSO, AUGUST 20 & 21; PIANIST JEREMY DENK PERFORMS MUSIC FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN ERAS, AUGUST 24; NICHOLAS MCGEGAN AND THE PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA PERFORM SCARLATTI’S LA GLORIA DI PRIMAVERA, AUGUST 25
Menahem Pressler joins Charles Dutoit and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Friday, August 19, for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488, notable for its intimate, chamber-musical character and heightened lyricism. Mr. Dutoit opens the program with Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro. The second half of the program is Rossini’s Stabat Mater, the most acclaimed of the composer’s late works. This performance of the 1841 choral masterpiece features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a quartet of vocal soloists to be announced at a later date.
Andris Nelsons returns for two performances with the BSO, August 20 and 21, including the first two acts from Verdi’s magnificent Aida on Saturday, August 20. Maestro Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and a cast of vocal soloists, including soprano Kristine Opolais as Aida, tenor Andrea Carè^^ as Radames, and bass Kwangchul Youn^ as Ramfis.
On Sunday, August 21, Mastro Nelsons leads the BSO in a program including three works inspired by Shakespeare and honoring the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. The overture to Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict opens the program, followed by George Tsontakis’s Sonnets, a Shakespeare-inspired concerto for English horn and orchestra commissioned by the BSO and featuring BSO English horn player Robert Sheena. Croatian pianist Dejan Lazi?^^, in his BSO debut, joins Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra as soloist in Saint-Saens’s Fifth Piano Concerto, The Egyptian, and the program closes with the suite to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the composer’s most familiar and popular pieces.
Pianist Jeremy Denk performs a fascinating centuries-spanning program in Ozawa Hall on Wednesday, August 24. In the program, entitled Medieval to Modern, Mr. Denk charts the history of Western music from the Medieval and Renaissance worlds of Machaut, Couperin, and Frescobaldi to Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, to the modernists Stravinsky, Cage, Ligeti, and Adams.
On Thursday, August 25, Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra perform Scarlatti’s La gloria di primavera, an elaborate piece the composer wrote to celebrate the birth of John Leopold, the heir to the Roman Emperor, Charles VI. The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is joined by vocalists including soprano Suzana Ograjenšek^, mezzo-soprano Diana Moore, countertenor Clint van der Linde, tenor Nicholas Phan, and baritone Douglas Williams.
WEEK 8, AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 3
KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS PRESENT “RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK” WITH ORCHESTRA, AUGUST 26; TANGLEWOOD FAVORITE YO-YO MA JOINS THE BSO, AUGUST 27; CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI LEADS THE SEASON-ENDING PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 9, AUGUST 28; WAIT WAIT…DON’T TELL ME! RETURNS TO TANGLEWOOD SEPTEMBER 1
On Friday, August 26, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will bring Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark to life with a live presentation of John Williams’ epic score performed by the orchestra alongside the movie. Tanglewood favorite Yo-Yo Ma joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, August 27, to open the final weekend of the BSO’s 2016 Tanglewood season.
Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its final concert of the 2016 Tanglewood season, Sunday, August 28. The BSO’s traditional season-ending performance of Beethoven’s splendid Symphony No. 9 will feature soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen^^, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose^, tenor Joseph Kaiser, bass Günther Groissböck^, and the beloved Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
Following the close of the BSO’s season, Tanglewood will host a number of popular acts, including NPR’s oddly informative weekly hour-long news quiz program, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, live at Tanglewood on Thursday, September 1. The Peabody Award-winning series offers a fast-paced, irreverent look at the week’s news, hosted by Peter Sagal along with judge and score-keeper Bill Kurtis. Additional performances will be announced in early 2016.
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER HIGHLIGHTS
The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC), the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer academy for advanced musical study, is considered one of the world’s foremost graduate-level educational programs for young professional musicians. TMC Fellows work closely with members of the BSO and renowned guest artists, performing some 40 concerts each season, including chamber music concerts and large-scale orchestral programs.
The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) will perform six full concerts during the 2016 season, including annual Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert in the Shed on Sunday, July 31, with Music Director Andris Nelsons leading the orchestra in an all-Brahms program including the First Symphony and Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring renowned pianist Paul Lewis. Other guest conductors to lead the TMCO this season, along with conducting Fellows of the Music Center, include Christoph von Dohnányi in a program including Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, July 18; Stefan Asbury in the final program of the 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music, a program featuring the U.S. premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song (a TMC75 commission), and Messiaen’s Turangalila-symphonie, July 25; and 2016 Koussevitzky Artist Charles Dutoit in a program including Kodály’s Dances of Gálanta, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, August 15. On Monday, August 8, soprano Dawn Upshaw, baritone Sanford Sylvan, and TMC Vocal Fellows will join the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra for a semi-staged performance of Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins on a program that also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14. Additionally, the TMCO will perform during Tanglewood on Parade on August 2.
2016 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, JULY 21-25
The 2016 Festival of Contemporary Music opens on Thursday, July 21, at 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall with Witold Lutoslawski’s lively 1983 composition, Chain 1. The program also includes Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Five Images after Sappho for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra; Magnus Lindberg’s Marea; and the East Coast premiere of FCM Director Steven Stucky’s Chamber Concerto; works by three composers to whom Lutos?awski was a chief mentor.
Lutoslawski’s influence was an important presence in the music of Joseph Phibbs, whose String Quartet No. 1 receives its US premiere on the Friday, July 22, 2:30 p.m. program. Hans Abrahamsen’s Schneebilder for piano quartet; Sebastian Currier’s Deep-Sky Objects for soprano, string quartet, piano, electronics, and video, a cycle of love songs set in the future; and Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy’s One Hundred Goodbyes (Céad Slán) for string quartet and soundtrack round out the program.
The Fromm Concert on Saturday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. features six works for small chamber ensembles, including Falling Up, a newer work by 27-year-old American composer Elizabeth Ogonek, who’s just been appointed composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony; and the world premiere of a new work for voice, violin, viola, and double bass by Erin Gee, commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center. Ms. Ogonek was a student of Donald Crockett, whose Whistling in the Dark is also performed on this program. Barbara White’s Learning to See, Pierre Jalbert’s L’Oeil écuote, and Arthur Levering’s Cloches II are also featured.
Swedish composer Anders Hillborg’s Brass Quintet anchors the Sunday, July 24, 10 a.m. program. The program also includes Brett Dean’s three-movement Sextet (Old Kings in Exile), inspired by Australian author Arno Geiger’s memoir about his aging father; the late British composer Jonathan Harvey’s 1985 composition Song Offerings; Pierre Boulez’s Dérive; and Franco Donatoni’s Arpège for six instruments. The world premiere performance of Harold Meltzer’s Variations on a Summer Day closes the program.
On Monday, July 25, the Festival of Contemporary Music comes to a close with an 8 p.m. Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra concert featuring the US premiere of George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song for countertenor, women’s voices, and orchestra. Also on the program is a work by Mr. Benjamin’s teacher, Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, a large-scale orchestral piece that was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and premiered by Leonard Bernstein and the orchestra in 1949. The Turangalîla-Symphonie is the central work of a trilogy focused on the myth of Tristan and Isolde. Messiaen’s Harawi for soprano and piano, the first part of the Tristan trilogy, is also featured on a prelude concert at 6 p.m. in Ozawa Hall.
One Day University at Tanglewood, Sunday, August 28, 2016
One Day University, the acclaimed adult education series, is returning to Tanglewood on Sunday, August 28, presenting three lectures by professors from Harvard University, the University of Texas, and Union College. Topics to be discussed include “The Rise and Decline of the American Presidency,” with University of Texas professor Jeremi Suri; “When Intuition Fails: Why We’re Often Wrong When We Think We’re Right,” with Union College professor Christopher Chabris; and “Beethoven’s Symphonies: Cycles, Pairs and Ghosts,” with Harvard University professor Thomas Forrest Kelly. The cost of One Day University at Tanglewood is $159, and includes VIP parking and lawn admission or a 10% discount on a Shed ticket for the 2:30 p.m. BSO season-finale performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, led by Christoph von Dohnányi. Advance purchase is required. For more information or to register for One Day University at Tanglewood, call Symphony Charge at 888?266-1200 or visit www.tanglewood.org/onedayu.
2016 TANGLEWOOD SEASON: HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS, HOW TO ORDER A BROCHURE, FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES, PATRON PERKS AND AMENITIES, THE BSO MEDIA CENTER, AND SPONSORSHIP
HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS, HOW TO ORDER A BROCHURE, AND FREE AND DISCOUNTED LAWN TICKETS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood season go on sale to the general public on Sunday, January 24, at 10 a.m. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Regular season ticket prices range from $12-$124. Tickets for Saturday Morning Rehearsals range from $13-$33. All ticket prices include a $2 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee. Please note that most BSO concerts in the Koussevitzky Music Shed will start at 8 p.m. this season.
Tickets will also be available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at Tanglewood’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of Wednesday, June 17, at 10 a.m. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, 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.tanglewood.org.
The BSO’s $20 tickets for attendees under 40 will be available during the 2016 Tanglewood season for select performances. Beginning in May 2016, tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis through www.tanglewood.org and through SymphonyCharge. Certain blackout dates will apply. Eligible patrons may purchase up to two tickets per show and must provide proof of age when picking up their tickets at will call in order to receive the discount.
Tanglewood is pleased to offer free lawn tickets for children and young people age 17 and younger. Up to four free children’s lawn tickets are available per parent/legal guardian per concert at the Tanglewood Box Office on the day of the concert, as all patrons, regardless of age, must have a ticket. Please note that the free lawn ticket policy does not apply to organized groups. For Popular Artists concerts, free lawn tickets are only available for children under age 2.
Tanglewood brochures with complete programs and information on how to order tickets will be available in early February by 617-266-1492 or visit www.tanglewood.org. For Berkshire tourist information and reservations, contact the Berkshire Visitors Bureau at 413-743-4500 or visit www.berkshires.org.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES
Tanglewood provides special programs for kids, such as the popular Kids’ Corner, a craft-related project supervised and supported by BSO staff on weekends, and the Watch and Play program, an interactive musical performance designed to engage children ages 3-10 in the Tanglewood musical experience. In addition, through its Tanglewood for Kids program, Tanglewood offers free lawn tickets, up to four per family, to all children and young adults age 17 and under. Tanglewood will present its annual Family Concert on Saturday, July 9 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for the Family Concert are free to youth age 18 and under and $12 for each adult.
TANGLEWOOD PATRON AMENITIES AND PERKS
Tanglewood offers free hour-long walking tours of Tanglewood’s grounds and performance spaces on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (email bsav@bso.org or call 617-638-9394 to confirm dates and times). Friday-evening Prelude Concerts, at 6 p.m. in Ozawa Hall, feature BSO musicians in small ensemble and chamber music settings. Saturday-evening Prelude Concerts, July 5-August 16, at 6 p.m. in Ozawa Hall, feature Tanglewood Music Center Fellows in performance. Admission to Prelude Concerts is free to all BSO concert ticket holders.
“Talks and Walks,” a series of informal conversations presented by guest artists and members of the BSO family, takes place in the Tent Club on Thursday afternoons, from July 7 through August 25. The Tent Club opens at noon and the talks begin at 1 p.m. To purchase tickets, available for $119 for a full series, call 617-638-9394 or email bsav@bso.org.
BSO 101 — a free music appreciation series led by BSO Director of Program Publications Marc Mandel with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra — takes place on three Wednesdays from 12:45–2 p.m. in the Tanglewood Tent Club. BSO 101 sessions focus on music to be played by the BSO each Tanglewood weekend, examining and illuminating aspects of musical shape and form and of the composer’s individual musical style. All of these sessions include recorded musical examples, and each is self-contained, so that no prior musical training or attendance at any previous session is required. Attendees are encouraged to bring a lunch, though there is also the option of buying lunch at the Tent Club. This year’s BSO 101 sessions are scheduled for July 13, July 27, and August 17.
Tanglewood offers Lawn Chair Rentals, for a fee of $5, available at the Grille at the Main Gate for Shed concerts, and at the Bernstein Gate for Ozawa Hall performances. For the convenience of patrons, a Bank of America ATM is located outside the main gate.
The BSO also offers Date Night packages at Tanglewood on July 15, 22, and 29, and August 5, 19, and 26. The package includes a pre-concer dinner for two at Highwood and two premium tickets in the Shed for $150 or two lawn tickets and two lawn chairs plus a pre-concert dinner at Highwood for $100. Both packages include a tour of the grounds.
The orchestra will offer three UndersScore Fridays performances on July 22, August 5, and August 19. At these performances patrons will hear comments at the program directly from the an onstage BSO musician.
The Boston Symphony Association of volunteers offers free walking tours of the Tanglewood campus. The tours last approximately one hour and include visits to the Koussevitzky Music Shed, Ozawa Hall, the Visitor Center history rooms, and more. Experienced volunteer guides discuss the historical background of Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Reservations are not required. Tours begin at the Visitor Center at the Tanglewood Manor House. In case of inclement weather, tours will meet informally under cover. Private group tours for a minimum of 25 people may be arranged (at least two weeks in advance) for a fee. For more information, call the Office of Volunteer Services at 617-638-9394 or email bsav@bso.org.
MEDIA OFFERINGS AT BSO.ORG
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s extensive website, BSO.org, is one of the world’s largest and most-visited orchestral websites, receiving approximately 10 million visitors annually and generating over $111 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is on Facebook at Facebook.com/BostonSymphony on Twitter at Twitter.com/BostonSymphony, and on Google+ at Google.com/+bostonsymphony. Video content from the BSO is also available at YouTube.com/BostonSymphony.
The site’s Media Center, consolidates its numerous new media initiatives in one location.In addition to comprehensive access to all BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall performance schedules, patrons have access to a number of free and paid media options. Free offerings include WCRB radio broadcast streams of select BSO, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood performances; a free music stream of Boston Pops recordings; audio concert preview podcasts; Emmy Award-winning audio and video interviews with guest artists and BSO musicians; music excerpts highlighting upcoming programs as well as all self-produced albums by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, and complete program notes for all performances, which can be downloaded and printed or saved offline to an e-reading device such as a Kindle or Nook.
Paid content includes digital music downloads produced and published under the BSO’s music label BSO Classics and includes performances by the BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and Tanglewood Music Center Fellows. The BSO Media Center is available by visiting www.BSO.org/mediacenter.
NEW BSO APP AND MOBILE WEB OFFERINGS
With the start of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2015-16 season, the BSO launched a new, free app providing concertgoers with a new platform through which to interact with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood. A highlight of the app, “Watch & Listen,” provides users with a variety of concert-related content including program notes, audio podcasts, and multimedia video podcasts. The app also provides ticketing and schedule information, as well as practical information about, and planning your visit to, Symphony Hall. In addition, it includes a social media feed connecting concertgoers with other listeners on Facebook and Twitter, as well as to reviews, comments, photos, and other social-media-generated content. The app is available for download and installation on iPhone devices via the iTunes App Store, and on Android devices via Google Play.
The orchestra’s website, BSO.org, is also mobile device compatible. Patrons can visit BSO.org on their mobile device to access performance schedules, purchase tickets as well as pre-performance food and beverages, download program notes, listen to radio broadcasts, music clips, and concert previews, watch video exclusives, and make donations to the BSO—all in the palm of their hand.
RADIO BROADCASTS AND STREAMING
Concerts from the Shed are broadcast throughout the Tanglewood season in Boston on WCRB-99.5 FM, a service of WGBH, and WJMF 88.7 in Providence; in Albany on WAMC 90.3 FM and its network of translators; in Connecticut on WMNR 88.1 FM, and in New Hampshire on WCNH 91.5 FM and WEVO 89.1 HD2. In addition, Sunday-afternoon concerts are broadcast on WFCR 88.5 in Amherst. Streaming audio of the broadcasts can also be accessed via the stations’ websites at www.classicalwcrb.org; www.wamc.org; www.wmnr.org; www.nhpr.org; and www.wfcr.org. On-demand audio of concerts is available at www.bso.org and www.classicalwcrb.org.