By Dave Read
Summer 2023 in the Berkshires will be the 85th season of performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. But, before the summer party gets underway in the venerable Koussevitsky Music Shed, (BSO) there will be a few spring events in the new Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI), on the rise above Seiji Ozawa Hall: chamber concerts on March 12, April 16, May 14. Following those concerts, there will be weekly programs in the adjacent Studio E throughout the orchestra’s summer residency.
As of early February, there are 20 events scheduled at Tanglewood BEFORE the BSO’s grand opening night concert, which will begin with a fanfare for brass and percussion, Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah, composed by Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) alumnus Wynton Marsalis, followed by the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Daniil Trifonov, then Tchaikowsky’s Symphony No. 4.
Follow the link to access complete Tanglewood 2023 schedule details.
Tanglewood tickets go on sale at 10am March 9; access via tanglewood.org or 888-266-1200.
Highlights of Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts July and August in the Shed
- Friday, July 7, 8pm: The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s opening concert of the season begins with Wynton Marsalis’s Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah, followed by Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Daniil Trifonov, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, led by Andris Nelsons
- Sunday, July 9, 2:30pm: A world premiere of Iman Habibi’s Zhiân and Jessie Montgomery’s Freedom Songs, featuring vocalist Julia Bullock, make up the first half of this program; Hilary Hahn joins the BSO and Andris Nelsons for Brahms’s Violin Concerto to complete the program
- Saturday, July 15, 8pm: A Nelsons-led BSO concert performance of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte, with Nicole Cabell and Kate Lindsey in the lead female roles, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton conductor, will be sung in Italian with English supertitles
- Sunday, July 16, 2:30pm: The BSO and Andris Nelsons, joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and children’s choir, perform Orff’s Carmina burana; the program opens with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3
- Friday, August 11, 8pm: Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the BSO and Nelsons for John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2, on a program with works by Strauss and Ravel
- Sunday, August 13, 2:30pm: Julia Adolphe’s Makeshift Castle opens the program, followed by Yo-Yo Ma performing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1; the program closes with Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1947 version)
- Friday, August 18, 8pm: Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian, and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, both with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist
- Saturday, August 19, 8pm: Leonidas Kavakos performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on a program with Prokofiev‘s Symphony No. 5
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in the Shed
- Monday, July 10, 8pm: Andris Nelsons leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Debussy’s La Mer; TMC Conducting Fellows lead works of Ravel and Stravinsky
- Monday, July 17, 8pm: Andris Nelsons leads the TMCO in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4; TMC Conducting Fellows conduct music of Bacewicz and Kodály
Popular artists and Boston Pops at Tanglewood 2023
Keith Lockhart leads five Boston Pops programs, including a new symphonic version of Ragtime, a concert film presentation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ in Concert, Star Wars: The Story in Music, a showcase for music from the movie franchise; John Williams and David Newman conduct John Williams’ Film Night
James Taylor and his All-Star Band present performances on July 3 and 4; additional concerts include Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, the Steve Miller Band, and Train, plus Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!