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Tanglewood Popular Artists schedule 2018

Article updated Feb. 19, 2018 by

They’ve done the math on Mass.Ave. in Boston, where the BSO’s marketing majors compile the lineup for the Tanglewood Popular Artists series, and found that the median age of the classical music audience matches the mean number of trips around the sun Baby Boomers have taken.

The result is that musicians who peaked in the late sixties/early seventies are very likely to be getting another peek down by Stockbridge Bowl as we move into the Re-Gilded Age of the Late Teens!

Here in the Berkshires, where the Hospitality-Industrial Complex is a force to be reckoned with, everybody’s favorite baby boomer, James Taylor, headlines the 2018 Tanglewood Popular Artists series. No artist had a luckier trip in the Sixties than our own neighbor and friend Taylor, who recorded his debut album in 1968 while The Beatles were working on their White Album in the same London studio!

James and his All-Star Band will once again play two shows, July 3 & 4, with fireworks following the July 4 concert. Taylor is a stellar role model for his ’60s-era peers because he is true to his art, keeping it fresh and new every time he brings it to the Koussevitsky Music Shed. In this Tanglewood season celebrating the Centennial of Leonard Bernstein, who was as radical as any artist during the Sixties, it’s gratifying to have a fellow-traveler headlining the Fourth of July.

Other notable acts who also keep on keeping on, tapping into deep reservoirs of artistic fervor, include The Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder, Judy Collins, Steven Stills, and David Crosby. But wait – there’s more, here’s the complete lineup:

2018 Tanglewood Popular Artist schedule

Thursday, June 21, 8:00 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Andy Grammer

Friday, June 22, 7:00 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Boston Pops and Audra McDonald

Sunday, June 24, 2:30 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Friday, June 29, 8:00 Seiji Ozawa Hall

String Quartet Marathon

Saturday, June 30, 10:00 & 2:30 Seiji Ozawa Hall

Live From Here at Tanglewood with Chris Thile

Saturday, June 30, 5:45 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Ry Cooder and Emmylou Harris

Sunday, July 1, 2:30 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Steve Miller Band, with Peter Frampton

Monday, July 2, 7:00 Koussevitsky Music Shed

James Taylor

Tuesday, July 3, 8:00 Koussevitsky Music Shed

James Taylor

Wednesday, July 4, 8:00 Koussevitsky Music Shed

Fireworks after the concert.

BERNSTEIN On the Town

Saturday, July 7, 8 p.m. Koussevitsky Music Shed

  • Boston Pops Orchestra – Keith Lockhart, conductor
  • Singers
  • Kathleen Marshall, director
  • David Chase, musical director

    • John Williams’ Film Night

    Saturday, Aug. 11, 8:00 p.m. Koussevitsky Music Shed

  • Boston Pops Orchestra
  • Andris Nelsons and John Williams, conductors

    • John Williams’ Film Night has long been established as one of the Tanglewood calendar’s most consistently captivating evenings. Join Mr. Williams as he presents this year’s celebration of the music of Hollywood and beyond, featuring the Boston Pops and BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons.

    Steve Martin and Martin Short, An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life

    Sunday, Sept. 2, 2:30 p.m. Koussevitsky Music Shed

  • Steve Martin and Martin Short
  • with The Steep Canyon Rangers and Jeff Babko

    • Hotels near Tanglewood

    Berkshires hotelsFind 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.

    Tanglewood tickets and box office information

    Tickets for the 2018 Tanglewood season, $12-$160, are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Download the 2018 Tanglewood season brochure.

    James Taylor at Tanglewood July 2 – 4, 2012

    James Taylor at Tanglewood July 2 – 4, 2012

    by .

    Tanglewood audience July 4th James Taylor concert.
    Tanglewood audience July 4th James Taylor concert; photo: Dave Conlin Read
    The Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood is a holy place in the minds of legions of classical music lovers, sort of a chapel to the cathedral – Symphony Hall in Boston. Over the past decade or so, the BSO has instituted a way to ready the place for the returning congregants, inviting lay ministers Garrison Keillor and James Taylor to hold services that are certain clear the dust from the rafters and get the aisle-wardens, parking-assistants, concessionaires, and ticket-takers into mid-season form.

    Keillor, an annual Tanglewood attraction since 2000, can now be counted on to append nearly a whole show of audience sing alongs to his 2 hour live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. And James Taylor, who has played 40+ times at Tanglewood since 1974, has taken to scheduling little series of shows, often with special guests. This year’s 3 night run included one with Taylor Swift, the young country-pop sensation who was named after him. She appeared late in the first set of the July 2 show for a duet on Fire and Rain, and sang her own hits Ours and Love Story in the 2nd set. Ms. Swift’s entrance caused an eruption of shrieks from the youngsters in the sold-out audience that reminded us of the reception afforded the youngsters from Liverpool when they were introduced by Ed Sullivan in 1964.

    Tanglewood lawn scene,July 4th James Taylor concert.
    Tanglewood lawn scene,July 4th James Taylor concert photo: Dave Conlin Read
    The Beatles get a mention at all James Taylor concerts, when he talks about his luck in getting signed by them to record his first album on their Apple label. The album included Carolina in My Mind with appearance by Paul McCartney and George Harrison, and Something in the Way She Moves, which inspired Harrison to write Something. This season’s version of Taylor’s band was missing singer Arnold McCuller but included long-time collaborator Larry Goldings on keyboards and Dean Parks on pedal steel, each of whom added serious and searing oomph to the proceedings.

    We attended the 1st and 3rd show; together the series attracted somewhere in the neighborhood of 53,000 fans. Mr. Taylor is also on the program for the Gala 75 Anniversary concert July 14, which features Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestras, plus special guests John Williams, Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, and Peter Serkin.

    Taylor Swift scheduled for July 2 James Taylor concert at Tanglewood

    Taylor Swift scheduled for July 2 James Taylor concert at Tanglewood

    Appearing on James Taylor’s July 2 Tanglewood show will be Taylor Swift, who was named after him! Ms. Swift was named the Country Music Association’s 2011 Entertainer of the Year as well as the American Music Award’s Artist of the Year. Over the years, Mr. Taylor has performed at Tanglewood with a variety of guest musicians. Last year, his guest were Amy Grant and Vince Gill, which followed the wildly popular tour with longtime friend and collaborator Carole King. Here is a video of Taylor Swift:

    Tanglewood schedule June 22-July 5, 2012

    Tanglewood schedule June 22-July 5, 2012

    Tanglewood schedule for the week before the BSO opens its 75th season, June 22-July 5, 2012 features Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, June 22 and 24; Diana Krall returns to Tanglewood June 23; Mark Morris Dance Group performs June 28 & 29; A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor broadcasts live from the Shed on June 30; and James Taylor plays concerts on July 2, 3, and 4th.

    Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble opens Tanglewood schedule on June 22, 2012
    Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble opens Tanglewood schedule on June 22, 2012
    Yo-Yo Ma, a beloved Tanglewood fixture who has performed at the festival in all but one summer since 1983, opens the 2012 Tanglewood season with two performances featuring his Silk Road Ensemble in Ozawa Hall Friday, June 22, and Sunday, June 24. With musicians from around the globe, the Ensemble will perform a special program that reflects a diversity of styles and nationalities, combining Western and non-Western instruments from the old and new worlds in ways that transcend cultural boundaries.

    Diana Krall performs Saturday, June 23, in the Koussevitzky Music Shed, where she last appeared at the festival in 2009. The double platinum-selling recording artist is known for her distinctive jazz stylings across a range of repertoire, especially tunes from the American songbook.

    The Mark Morris Dance Group makes its annual appearance in two highly anticipated concerts Thursday, June 28, and Friday, June 29, collaborating as usual with Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center. The program includes three Morris works: Something Lies Beyond the Scene, set to William Walton’s Façade: An Entertainment and featuring soprano and longtime TMC faculty member Phyllis Curtin in the role of narrator; Rock of Ages, set to the second movement of Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat, D.897; and Festival Dance, set to Johann Hummel’s Piano Trio No. 5 in E, Op. 83.

    A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor and a colorful cast of friends from the shores of Lake Wobegon, has become a favorite Tanglewood tradition and once again broadcasts live from the Shed Saturday, June 30. James Taylor, another beloved and annual guest, appears in three concerts July 2, 3, and 4, in a program called James Taylor at Tanglewood, reflecting the style and the songs that have made him an icon. Tanglewood’s annual Independence Day fireworks display follow the July 4 concert.

    The pre-season concludes Thursday, July 5, with the always outstanding Emerson String Quartet. In an Ozawa Hall program juxtaposing the classic and the new, the group performs Mozart’s String Quartet No. 21 in D, K.575, internationally acclaimed British composer Thomas Adès’s Four Quarters, and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat, Op. 130, with the composer’s original Große Fuge finale.

    Tanglewood schedule week 2, July 13-19, 2012

    Tanglewood schedule week 2, July 13-19, 2012

    Anne-Sophie Mutter is soloist and conductor on Tanglewood schedule July 13, 2012.
    Anne-Sophie Mutter is soloist and conductor on Tanglewood schedule July 13, 2012.
    Tanglewood schedule week 2, July 13-19, 2012 includes the 75th Gala Anniversary Celebration on July 14, which features Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestras, plus special guests John Williams, Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, and James Taylor. On July 13, Anne-Sophie Mutter performs as soloist and conductor in three Mozart Violin Concertos. On July 18, Gerhard Oppitz begins a four concert series of the complete solo piano works of Brahms.

    Eminent violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who opened the BSO’s 2011-12 season in the dual role of soloist and conductor in the five Mozart violin concertos, rejoins the orchestra on Friday, July 13, for the composer’s Second, Third, and Fifth concertos.

    In a star-studded event featuring some of Tanglewood’s most distinguished and longtime guests Saturday, July 14, the BSO, Boston Pops, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Tanglewood Festival Chorus join forces with conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Andris Nelsons, guest artists including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, Tanglewood’s longtime friend James Taylor, and vocal soloists for Tanglewood’s spectacular 75th Anniversary Celebration. The festive program will include Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, music from Bernstein’s On the Town, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, and much more.

    Latvian conductor and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons, who previously conducted the BSO at Carnegie Hall and makes his subscription series debut in January 2012, makes his Tanglewood debut Sunday, July 15. Mr. Nelsons and the orchestra are joined by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, on a program with Brahms’s exhilarating Symphony No. 2.

    This season, Tanglewood audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear Brahms’s complete works for solo piano in four Ozawa Hall recitals by outstanding German pianist Gerhard Oppitz. Mr. Oppitz plays the first two installments of the series on Wednesday, July 18 (highlighted by the Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5, and the Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119) and Thursday, July 19 (including the Four Ballades, Op. 10, and the Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9).