By Dave Read, Lenox, MA, April 5, 2024 – The 2024 Tanglewood Season features ten concerts to be conducted by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, including programs that celebrate Serge Koussevitzky’s 150th birthday and the centennial of his appointment as BSO Music Director (1924–1949). BSO schedule and ticketing info.
Programs to be conducted by Maestro Nelsons, in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, begin Opening Night July 5 with an all-Beethoven program with violinist Hilary Hahn; continue on the 7th with an all-Strauss matinee with soprano Renée Fleming. Augustin Hadelich in Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto; a collaboration with Boston Ballet in Stravinsky’s Apollon Musagète; and Act III of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with soprano Christine Goerke.
In a weekend of programs celebrating Koussevitzky 150 and Tanglewood’s prominence as a center for music and learning on July 26–28, Nelsons and the BSO share the Shed stage with pianists Yefim Bronfman, Paul Lewis, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, baritone Will Liverman, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and others in works composed or championed by the legendary Russian-born conductor, composer, and Festival and Tanglewood Music Center founder.
2024 Tanglewood Season Highlights
- The returns of favorite conductors Karina Canellakis, Alan Gilbert, Earl Lee, and Dima Slobodeniouk, and acclaimed artists Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Kirill Gerstein, Steven Isserlis, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Conrad Tao, and Yuja Wang—along with exciting Shed debuts by violinist Leila Josefowicz; pianist Bruce Liu; conductors Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan, Hannu Lintu, Samy Rachid, and Dalia Stasevska; and soprano Elena Villalón;
- The addition of a second John Williams’ Film Night to the Boston Pops summer roster, as well as Keith Lockhart leading a concert spotlighting the best of 21st-century Broadway music and Jurassic Park In Concert;
- The 50th anniversary of James Taylor at Tanglewood with concerts on July 3 and 4 headlining the Popular Artist Series, which also brings Pretenders as well as Kool & the Gang and En Vogue to the Shed: Popular Artists 2024 Tanglewood schedule;
- Gustavo Dudamel conducting the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela in his first appearance at Tanglewood since 2006;
- An exciting and diverse schedule of recitals and ensemble performances by renowned artists, including Emanuel Ax and The Knights; Kirill Gerstein, Joshua Bell, and Steven Isserlis; and Danill Trifonov and Leonidas Kavakos in intimate Ozawa Hall, in addition to Les Arts Florissants and conductor William Christie presenting a semi-staged version of Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen;
- The Tanglewood Music Center’s annual Festival of Contemporary Music co-curated by prizewinning composers Tania León and Steven Mackey and weekly concerts by the TMC Orchestra;
- A robust calendar of interdisciplinary humanities-focused programs at the Tanglewood Learning Institute complementing performances on stage and a new Art of Conducting series with Nelsons and others;
- Family-friendly favorites such as Tanglewood on Parade with Williams, Lockhart, and Anna Rakitina; a Family Concert led by Thomas Wilkins; and a new TLI for Families series with podcast host Rebecca Sheir in collaboration with Circle Round, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI)