Assistant Conductor Julian Kuerti replaces James Levine at Tanglewood

By Dave Read | Published: July 9, 2008

Boston Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Julian Kuerti will step in for James Levine as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for their performance in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood on Sunday, July 13.

James Levine has withdrawn from the remainder of the Tanglewood season due to surgery to remove a kidney. The procedure has been described by Levine’s doctors as curative, with no other treatment necessary and with every expectation for a complete recovery. The anticipated recuperation period is six weeks -leaving ample time to prepare and conduct the season openings of the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera in September.

Pianist Peter Serkin will join Mr. Kuerti and the BSO for J.S. Bach’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart’s Concert Rondo in D. The program also includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 104, London, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, Tragic. There will be an Open Rehearsal of this program on Saturday, July 12, at 10:30 a.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed.

Currently in his first season as an assistant conductor of the BSO, Julian Kuerti was appointed to that position by James Levine in February 2007 and made his BSO debut at Symphony Hall in March 2008 leading subscription concerts including Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto featuring soloist Leon Fleisher. In the final concert of that series, Mr. Fleisher withdrew due to illness. Julian Kuerti’s father, the acclaimed Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti, who was in Boston to attend his son’s concert, was able to fill in for Mr. Fleisher at extremely short notice and with no rehearsal. Mr. Kuerti has conducted extensively in Europe and in North and South America, including concerts with the Toronto Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Berliner Symphoniker, and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In 2005, Mr. Kuerti was a Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow, working in master classes with James Levine, Kurt Masur, Stefan Asbury, and Rafael FrĂĽhbeck de Burgos and leading performances with the TMCO and TMC Fellows throughout the summer. Julian Kuerti is the founder and artistic director of Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop in Berlin. He has also appeared with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.

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