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BSO Unveils Tanglewood's 2017 Lineup

Shed at Tanglewood
Shed at Tanglewood

The warm summer evenings at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra may seem far away after this weekend's snow and cold, but the schedule for next summer is out. For more, we spoke with Mark Volpe, managing director of the BSO, who says the season will begin and end with musical director Andris Nelsons holding the baton.

Tanglewood's official press release announcing the 2017 season.

In his most significant commitment yet to Tanglewood, Andris Nelsons will lead both the opening and closing BSO concerts, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection (7/7), and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (8/27); Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Kristine Opolais; an opera gala with Ms. Opolais and Dmitri Hvorostovsky performing excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, La traviata, and Eugene Onegin; the world premiere of John Williams’s Markings with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; and the first-ever BSO and festival concert performance of the complete Das Rheingold, a tour de force  milestone in the history of the festival. Mr. Nelsons will also share the podium conduct the Boston Pops Orchestra for the first time, sharing the podium for Film Night with John Williams

Thomas Ades also makes his first Tanglewood appearances as BSO Artistic Partner this summer, leading the BSO and TMC Orchestras in concert, and performing with the Emerson String Quartet.

In addition to these BSO highlights, the 2017 Tanglewood season will launch new initiatives designed to give visitors a variety of activities to enjoy during pre- and post-concert hours around the BSO’s weekend performances, as well as a concert series to take place off-campus beyond the Tanglewood grounds, offering music lovers a new and different way to enjoy the festival’s musical offerings. Sunday afternoons at Tanglewood will offer visitors a chance to engage in entertaining and educational activities scheduled to take place before and after Sunday-afternoon BSO concerts (2:30 p.m.), starting when the gates open at noon. Though specific details of these programs will be announced at a later date, the Sunday-afternoon offering are expected to include such activities as lectures and musical demonstrations for all ages, sing-alongs, food and wine tastings, face painting, yoga and Qigong, and games for children and families. With many of the activities taking place throughout the Tanglewood campus, visitors will also be encouraged to spend more time enjoying and touring the Festival’s iconic grounds and buildings.

Also, in a unique and first-ever endeavor between Tanglewood and Mass Audubon, Tanglewood Takes Flight:  A Celebration of Birds and Music with Mass Audubon will bring a new dimension to the activity of bird walks by partnering the walks with live performances, including music from Messiaen’s Catalogue of the Birds, a monumental series of 13 piano pieces portraying the birds of Europe, to be performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Piano Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center at both Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and Tanglewood (7/27-30).

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops perform at Tanglewood several times throughout the summer, as well, including Sondheim on Sondheim (7/8) and two special movie presentations with live orchestra accompanimentJaws (6/18) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (8/25) Summertime at Tanglewood wouldn’t be complete without several performances by the Boston Pops under the direction of Keith Lockhart, who leads Sondheim on Sondheim and two special movie presentations with live orchestra accompanimentJaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (both with scores by John Williams!). Other highlights of the season include appearances by Yo-Yo Ma (8/3, 8/16, 8/17), Emanuel Ax (7/22, 8/3, 13, 17, & 23), Joshua Bell (8/13), and the 2017 Tanglewood Koussevitzky Artist, Garrick Ohlsson (7/26, 8/1, 4, 5, and 8).

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