Tanglewood in the Berkshires has announced its Summer 2024 season. Featuring Andris Nelsons leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra, appearances from classical music legends like Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, and popular artists like Kool and the Gang and the Pretenders, the schedule runs from late June through August. The season marks the 50th year of James Taylor’s July 4th performances at Tanglewood, and will see the popular John Williams' Film Night expand to two nights due to the intense traffic that plagued last year’s edition. To find out more, WAMC spoke with BSO Vice President Tony Fogg.
FOGG: Josh, it's a very what we might call robust season ahead. Eight weeks of programming with the Boston Symphony- The first month, the month of July, features our music director, Andris Nelsons, and some great programs, and we've got an all-Beethoven program with violinist Hilary Hahn to open the BSO part of the season on the 5th of July. And then, very important, Andris is celebrating the 150th birthday of Tanglewood founder Serge Koussevitzky, an immensely important figure in the world of music, but of course, without Koussevitzky, we wouldn't have our wonderful festival. So, over the weekend of the last weekend of July, we'll be looking at all aspects of Koussevitzky’s work: His own compositions, the composers he supported, the American composer tradition that he initiated. Tanglewood is blessed to work with a number of the really great, great artists of our time. I've mentioned Hilary Hahn, but we also have Renée Fleming with us, Yuja Wang, Yo-Yo Ma, a much beloved figure, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, who this year will be celebrating 35 consecutive years of playing at Tanglewood, and many others. There are some artists who are new to us. Always exciting to hear some debut artists, but I think a very, very rich mixture of beloved classics, new works, artists we know so well, and some new names.
Turning to the Boston Pops from the orchestra, what's their schedule going to look like this summer?
The Pops will be with us for four concerts this coming summer. A terrific program on the opening weekend called ‘Broadway Today,’ which will look at not classic Broadway, but some contemporary and very successful works that are on the Broadway stages. Very happy to say that one of the great traditions of Tanglewood, one of the most popular evenings in our schedule for many years – and that's John Williams’ Film Night – will be over two nights this coming season, same program performed twice, August 2nd and 3rd. This is really in response to the tremendous attendance that we've been having at John's film night presentations, and we felt it prudent to try and ease the burden on one single night, so we’re presenting it over Friday and Saturday and we hope that this will make things a little less congested in Lenox and Stockbridge and surrounds, and make for easier passage to Tanglewood. And then, finally with the Pops, Keith Lockhart and the Pops are doing this the live soundtrack to Jurassic Park, and that's towards the end of August.
You were talking about spreading out the film night to two nights to ease some of the congestion- There were a lot of stories of intense traffic in and around Tanglewood last summer. Are there any other efforts underway to try to address that this season?
We will be making sure that our traffic control is as well thought through and efficient as possible. We will aim to try and make parking as easy as it can be. But I think having two nights will address a lot of the issues. It was a terrific evening last year, but it was a challenge for everyone to get into and out of Tanglewood. So, we hope having two nights will ease some of that and we'll see even more people than we usually do at Tanglewood for John's film night.
Let's turn to the popular artists series. One of the biggest stories is the 50th anniversary of James Taylor at Tanglewood- What else is going on? And how will the venue celebrate the half century of JT performing at Tanglewood?
[laughs] Well, look, JT is a very humble man, and I'm not sure how he would like that celebration to happen. The fact that he's been with us for 50 years is pretty astonishing, and he so generously donates the proceeds from the 4th of July concert to the good work that we're doing, especially in educational area at Tanglewood. But I think the biggest celebration will be having all of James's fans around him on those two nights of 3rd and 4th of July. So, it'll be terrific. But look, otherwise, most of our popular artist series presentations are focused on the shoulders of the season- So, starting mid-June, and then going up to the beginning of the Tanglewood season, it’ll be a certain of part of the season, and then in the week around Labor Day. And some of the artists- The popular artist series tends to not be on quite the same timetable of confirmations as the main part of the season. And so, we'll see a provisional announcement of some of the artists now, beyond James, and I’m pleased that we have the Pretenders coming, Kool and the Gang ad En Vogue, Jason Mraz, and that there will be more who we will be announcing at a later date. So, there'll be, I think, quite a strong lineup in both the early and the latter part of the season, and a couple of other artists dotted throughout the season as well.
Now, the Tanglewood Learning Institute continues to move forward since its debut just a few seasons back now- What's going on with the TLI in 2024?
Josh, it's a very, very busy season, and I'm thrilled with everything that we've got on offer. We'll be continuing the TLI, and the Tanglewood Music Center will be working jointly on a number of masterclasses and open workshops. There will be a number of presentations under the aegis of the TLI special programs designed especially for the Linde Center for Music and Learning, their wonderful space, Studio E. But there will be some deep dives into certain subjects throughout the summer. We'll be, of course, looking at the legacy of Serge Koussevitzky, but also, we're devoting one weekend to just trying to grapple with the whole notion of identity in American music. What does that mean now, who was part of this dialogue and this speech? So, I think that's a very important set of programs that we have. But everything- It's a very, very busy season for the TLI. I'm glad that we're back to some of the level of programming that we had in our first season, 2019. With the pandemic, we had to cut back on some of the TLI presentations, but it's very robust. And look, I mentioned the Tanglewood Music Center, and they've got a fantastic season lined up: Orchestra concerts on Mondays, either in the shed or Ozawa Hall, a beautiful programming of chamber music. And it's always a great thing to see these fantastic young artists at the early stages of their career, and to follow them throughout the course of the summer is- It's a deeply rewarding process, and we know that those that are close to the fellows and close to the educational work of Tanglewood really feel energized and engaged in this journey that the young musicians are on.
