Tanglewood schedules

Boston Symphony opens 8 week series of video streams April 26

The Boston Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m., will launch Heroic Performances, a new 8-week video series of BSO and Boston Pops concerts for complimentary on-demand viewing at bso.org/athome. The first stream will feature BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leading the BSO and pianist Yefim Bronfman in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor on a program with Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2, a BSO signature work for more than a century.

Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Boston. (Photo by Winslow Townson) Andris Nelsons, conductor Yefim Bronfman, piano

Also scheduled for the first month:

May 3: Seiji Ozawa, in his final Symphony Hall concert as BSO Music Director (April 20, 2002), leading Mahler’s Symphony No. 9;
May 10: Erich Leinsdorf (BSO Music Director, 1962-69) conducting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 (recorded in Symphony Hall, April 15, 1969);
May 17: Andris Nelsons, in his inaugural concert as BSO Music Director, leading operatic excerpts by Wagner, Puccini, Mascagni, with guest vocalists Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann (recorded in Symphony Hall, September 27, 2014).

BSO cancels Asia trip due to China virus

Article updated January 31, 2020 by Dave Read

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has canceled its trip to Asia that was on their February schedule because of the virus emanating from China. The trip would have been the 29th since the organization was founded in 1881. Earlier international tours by the BSO that resulted in cancellations include the 1960 Asia-Australasia tour when “political unrest” led the BSO to call off an appearance in Seoul, South Korea, and the 1999 tour when the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia caused them to cancel concerts in Beijing.

Boston Symphony cancels Asia trip due to China virus. — Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, in Boston. (Photo by Winslow Townson)
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Olivier Latry, organ
John Ferrillo, oboe
Richard Svoboda, bassoon
Frank-Michael Erben, violin
Christian Giger, cello

Here’s an excerpt from the BSO marketing department:

“The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s four-city tour to East Asia (Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, and Hong Kong) with Andris Nelsons, February 6–16, has been canceled due to increasing concerns over widely documented official news and government agency reports assessing the spread of the new coronavirus. These concerns, along with discussions with the Shanghai Oriental Art Center—whose leadership informed the BSO about the official cancellations of their upcoming performances—followed by consultations with the tour’s presenters in Seoul, Taipei, and Hong Kong, combined to play an influential role in the cancellation of the BSO’s East Asia tour.”

These are the concerts that have been canceled:

Thursday, February 6
Seoul Arts Center
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Friday, February 7
Seoul Arts Center
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARBER Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
DVO?ÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Sunday, February 9
Taipei, National Concert Hall
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARBER Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
DVO?ÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Monday, February 10
Taipei, National Concert Hall
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Wednesday, February 12
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Thursday, February 13
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARBER Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
DVO?ÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Saturday, February 15
Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Sunday, February 16
Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
BARBER Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
DVO?ÁK Symphony No. 9, From the New World

BSO under Seiji Ozawa rock China with Stars and Stripes Forever in 1979

Their 1979 trip to the People’s Republic of China, with Seiji Ozawa on the podium, produced one of the most improbable and flat-out awesome musical mashups of all time – America’s most exciting patriotic march, The Stars and Stripes Forever, given a most convincing reading in Beijing.

CDC coronavirus report

Here is an external link to a January 27, 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: CDC coronavirus report.

Hotels in the Berkshires

Find hotels near Tanglewood with user reviews, check amenities, nearby attractions, availability and then book your room reservations at these lodging establishments through our partner, International Hotel Solutions (IHS), the leading provider of secure online hotel reservations.

2020 Tanglewood tickets

Tickets for the James Taylor concert on July 4 go on sale Monday, February 3, at 10 a.m.

Tickets for all other Tanglewood 2020 season concerts, including all other Popular Artist concerts, go on sale on Sunday, February 9, at 10 a.m.

BSO.org is the only official source for purchasing tickets to Tanglewood performances and events. If you do not see BSO.org in the address bar when viewing the performance schedule and purchasing tickets, please close your browser and visit www.BSO.org. Tickets are also available via SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200.

Tanglewood 2020 season pop music schedule

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has canceled all performances at Symphony Hall in Boston and at the Linde Center at Tanglewood from Friday, March 13 through Saturday, March 28 due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

For all the head space they’ve occupied since the big bang that fateful February 1964 Sunday on TV, the lads never did much on stage in America. Their fans were so senseless and unable to control themselves, that the Beatles hung it up a little over two years later, following half an hour under the assault of a ball park full of crazy kids in San Francisco.

– canceled -Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band – Friday, June 19, 7:00
Trey Anastasio with the Boston Pops – Saturday, June 20, 7:30
Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie – Sunday, June 21, 2:30
Brandi Carlile – Friday, June 26, 7:00
The Mavericks and Los Lobos – Sunday, June 28, 2:30
James Taylor – Saturday, July 4, 8:00
Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! – Thursday, August 27, 8:00

Hotels in the Berkshires

2020 Tanglewood tickets

Tickets for the James Taylor concert on July 4 go on sale Monday, February 3, at 10 a.m.

Tickets for all other Tanglewood 2020 season concerts, including all other Popular Artist concerts, go on sale on Sunday, February 9, at 10 a.m.

Tanglewood Learning Institute October 2019 programs

Article updated October 22, 2019 by Dave Read

When you’re attending a concert at Tanglewood on a Sunday afternoon, you may count yourself among the luckiest. Now, we’ve all got more such opportunities because the new Tanglewood Learning Institute will host Sunday afternoon chamber music concerts this fall, winter, and next spring by current and former Boston Symphony Orchestra players.

Opening in June 2019 Tanglewood’s new Linde Center for Music and Learning, home to the new Tanglewood Learning Institute and its 140 programs. Photo: Winslow Townson.

Preceding the first of them is a weekend of programs, beginning with a Thursday-evening film screening of Falling Down Stairs, a 1997 collaboration between cellist Yo-Yo Ma and choreographer Mark Morris, featuring Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 as a soundtrack.

Opening weekend of TLI programs

Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, amateur artists are given the opportunity to hone their skills in the fields of photography and painting with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires faculty artists. Later that day, 2–5 p.m., a multidisciplinary TLI OpenForum panel addresses the topic “Mastery in the DIY Era.”

Presenters include violinist Yevgeny Kutik and master model ship builder Rob Napier. The weekend concludes with a Sunday 3 p.m. chamber music concert by BSO associate principal clarinetist Thomas Martin, BSO violist Michael Zaretsky, and pianist Randall Hodgkinson in works by Mozart, Schumann, and Bruch. All events will take place in the Linde Center.

Sunday, October 27, 2019, 3 p.m.

MOZART Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, K.498, “Kegelstatt”
SCHUMANN Märchenerzählungen for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 132
BRUCH Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 83
Thomas Martin, clarinet; Michael Zaretsky, viola; Randall Hodgkinson, piano

The following weekend will be the first of three symposia to honor the legacy of the Martha Graham, in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Appalachian Spring @ 75, October 30, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
This tribute to the celebrated ballet—starring Graham, choreographed by her, and featuring an iconic score composed by Aaron Copland —includes a lecture about the genesis of the work through Graham/Copland correspondence and video of Martha herself, a special presentation of several dance excerpts from the ballet focusing on the Bride and Husbandman roles, and a Q&A session with Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Patsy Gay, Associate Archivist of Jacob’s Pillow.

The other Martha Graham programs are:

March 11, 2020, 7:30PM, Graham’s Greeks: Night Journey;
April 29, 2020, 7:30PM A Legacy of Innovation: The Lamentation Variations.

TLI tickets and further information.

Hotels in the Berkshires

2019 Tanglewood schedule

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has released the schedule for the 2019 season at Tanglewood, which will be remembered for the opening of the Tanglewood Learning Institute, the four buildings overlooking Seiji Ozawa Hall on the Leonard Bernstein camopus.

Music director Andris Nelsons will be present for the month of July, conducting 13 programs, including the world premiere of a new work by Kevin Puts, The Brightness of Light, based on letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz on July 20, and a concert performance of Wagner’s complete Die Walküre on july 27 and 28.