The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced the 2008 Tanglewood season schedule, Maestro James Levine’s fourth as Music Director, and it’s a good bet that by the time Levine takes to the podium on July 5 to lead the B.S.O. in the Berlioz opera Les Troyens, 50,000?patrons will have already paraded through the Tanglewood turnstiles during the popular preseason week of performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group, A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor, and a pair of James Taylor concerts.
Berkshire Night
Berlioz’ Les Troyens, featuring the BSO, a cast of acclaimed singers, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor will be presented in two parts on successive nights. Opening night also will be Tanglewood’s annual Berkshire Night, with free tickets for 1,000 year-round residents of the Berkshires.
The 2008 Tanglewood season also includes an all-Brahms program featuring the Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Yefim Bronfman, and the Third Symphony; a program pairing Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with the Tanglewood premiere of John Harbison’s Symphony No. 5, and a concert featuring pianist Peter Serkin performing music of Bach and Mozart on a program with symphonies of Haydn and Schubert.
Tanglewood on Parade
The wildly popular Tanglewood on Parade will take place Tuesday Aug. 5, with performances by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, under the batons of James Levine, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Sir Andrew Davis, and Andre Previn. This year’s program includes Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, as well as the traditional performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture followed by fireworks over the Stockbridge Bowl.
all-Mozart weekend
Additional highlights of the 2008 Tanglewood season include an all-Mozart weekend (August 8-10), featuring performances of the symphonies nos. 33, 38, and 39, Horn Concerto No. 3 with BSO principal horn James Sommerville, Piano Concerto No. 12 with Leon Fleisher, Violin Concerto No. 2 with Gil Shaham, and the Flute Concerto No. 1 with BSO principal flute Elizabeth Rowe in her solo debut with the BSO.
all-Beethoven weekend
The BSO will also present an all-Beethoven weekend (August 22-24) to close the BSO’s Tanglewood season. Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos conducts the Mass in C and Symphony No. 5 (August 22), and Christoph von Dohnanyi leads symphonies nos. 2 and 3 (August 23) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (August 24).
Yo Yo Ma and more favorites
Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink leads the BSO in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, (July 11) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, soprano Heidi Grant Murphy, and mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn (July 12). Cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins the BSO for Lalo’s Cello Concerto (August 3). Other favorites of the orchestral repertoire to be performed include Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (August 1); Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique (August 15), and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (August 17).
tickets on sale February 17
Tickets for the 2008 Tanglewood season go on sale to the public on February 17 through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200 or online at www.tanglewood.org. Friends of Tanglewood who contribute $75 or more to the Tanglewood Annual Fund are able to purchase tickets in advance of the public sale dates. For information about becoming a Friend of Tanglewood, call 617-638-9267.