HIGHLIGHTS OF TANGLEWOOD 2011
The 2011 Tanglewood season offers a kaleidoscopic array of many of the world’s great musicians performing an impressive range of music from classical to jazz, pop, and rock, with performances virtually each and every day of the summer, June 28-September 4, at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s acclaimed summer home located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills, between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA.
Our Tanglewood 2011 report is in four parts. This is Part Two.
Overview, ticket info, week by week programming (Part One)
Schedules by Venue and Discipline (Part Two)
Day by Day Guide to Performances (Part Three)
Details of the Soloists and Conductors (Part Four)
Highlights
From an all-Italian Opening Night Boston Symphony Orchestra program under the direction of James Levine on July 8, four appearances by living legend Yo-Yo Ma, a Boston Pops Cole Porter tribute led by Keith Lockhart, and the incredibly popular Film Night with John Williams, to the welcome returns of Itzhak Perlman and Christoph Eschenbach and special appearances by favorite artists Joshua Bell,Stephanie Blythe, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph von Dohnányi, Kurt Masur, and Peter Serkin to the closing BSO performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the direction of Lorin Maazel, Tanglewood 2011 brings classical music lovers and Boston Pops fans a wonderfully wide-ranging selection of artists and repertoire.
Tanglewood 2011 also presents some of the best from the worlds of jazz, pop, and rock, including four extraordinary appearances by singer/song writer legend James Taylor and the first Tanglewood performance by Grammy award-winning Train, to the annual Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion program and the season-ending Labor Day Weekend Jazz Festival.
From a world premiere performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group, two all-Ravel solo piano programs by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, a concert version of Handel’sOrlando, and a recital by Stephanie Blythe to the debut of the Mark O’Connor String Quartet, and mid-season jazz appearances by Brad Mehldau and John Pizzarelli’s Radio Deluxe, the Ozawa Hall schedule offers concertgoers a rich variety of performances in the intimate surroundings of this acclaimed concert setting.
Nurturing and presenting the best of the future of classical music, Tanglewood 2011 brings the debut of 26 important new artists, a Festival of Contemporary Musicprogram under the esteemed direction of Charles Wuorinen, and a wide variety of orchestral, operatic, and chamber music performances by the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s world-renowned music academy for young professional musicians.
TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF AND SEASON DATES
The 2011 Tanglewood music festival, now in its 74th year as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, opens on Tuesday, June 28, with a world premiere performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group, and closes with the annual Labor Day Weekend Jazz Festival, September 2-4. For detailed information about the 2011 Tanglewood season, including how to purchase tickets, priced from $9-$115, visit www.tanglewood.org. Tickets for most Tanglewood events go on sale to the general public February 13; the James Taylor and Train concerts go on sale February 6. As of these on-sale dates, tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, and through Symphony Charge at 888-266-1200. Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under and a 50% discount on lawn tickets to college and graduate students.
2011 TANGLEWOOD SEASON OVERVIEW
JAMES LEVINE CONCERTS WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY AND TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRAS
James Levine
The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 Tanglewood season opens with James Levine leading a concert of operatic and symphonic Italian music on Friday, July 8, featuring soprano Angela Meade, mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson, tenor Joseph Calleja, and bass-baritone James Morris in excerpts from Bellini’s Norma and Verdi’s I lombardi, on a program with overtures by Verdi and Rossini, and Respighi’sPines of Rome. The following night, Saturday, July 9, James Levine leads the BSO in Berlioz’s monumental Requiem, with Joseph Calleja on stage again as the tenor soloist. Both of these programs also feature the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor. Mr. Levine returns to the Tanglewood podium on July 29 to lead the orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
Maestro Levine will also lead what promises to be an extraordinary Tanglewood Music Center concert performance of Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande, with baritone José van Dam as Golaud, with some of the TMC’s most gifted vocal alumni, including bass-baritone Evan Hughes as Arkel and baritone Elliot Madoreas Pelléas, filling out the rest of the cast on July 25.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HIGHLIGHTS IN THE KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC SHED IN JULY 2011
The extraordinary violinist Joshua Bell performs Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra on a BSO program with Jennifer Higdon’s Loco and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique, under the direction of Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Sunday, July 10. One of the BSO’s most popular guest conductors, Kurt Masur, and soloistLynn Harrell team up with the BSO to perform one of the greatest works of the cello repertoire, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Friday, July 15. In one of two Friday-evening concerts performed without intermission, Pablo Heras-Casado, in his BSO debut, leads an all-Baroque program featuring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in arias of Handel and Gluck, Friday, July 22. Jaap van Zweden, in a highly anticipated conducting debut, leads a BSO program including Brahms’s Violin Concerto withArabella Steinbacher and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, Saturday, July 23. Following a long absence from the BSO podium, the orchestra welcomes back Christoph Eschenbach on July 30 for a program of an all-Brahms program featuring Peter Serkin as soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 1, and on July 31 for a program including Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, featuring Alisa Weilerstein, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HIGHLIGHTS IN THE KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC SHED IN AUGUST 2011
Favorite BSO guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos makes three Tanglewood appearances, beginning with a concert featuring acclaimed pianist Yuja Wang in her Tanglewood debut performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, on a program with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and Strauss’s Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, August 5. Guitarist extraordinaire Pepe Romero joins Mr. Frühbeck and the BSO for an all-Spanish program performing Rodrigo’s popular Concierto de Aranjuez, with music by Bizet, Boccherini, Falla, Granados, and Giménez filling out the rest of the program on August 12, the second of two Friday-evening programs performed without intermission. For his third and final appearance of the 2011 season, Mr. Frühbeck leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in an all-Brahms program for the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on August 14. Widely considered one of the greatest singers performing today, Stephanie Blythe will join Mr. Frühbeck and the orchestra to perform the Brahms Alto Rhapsody, for mezzo-soprano, male chorus, and orchestra, on a program that will also include the composer’s Symphony No. 2.
Esteemed conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and Yo-Yo Ma join the BSO for a performance of Schumann’s Cello Concerto, on a program with two popular favorites: Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, Classical, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1, August 13. The BSO debut of pianist Martin Helmchen, performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto, highlights Mr. Dohnányi’s second appearance with the orchestra on August 19—a program that will also include Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica. In a welcome Tanglewood debut, Bernard Labadie leads the orchestra in an all-Mozart program featuring Benedetto Lupo in his BSO debut, performing the B-flat piano concerto, K.456, August 21.
The final weekend of the BSO’s 2011 Tanglewood season, August 26-28, will feature three special programs. In a first-ever event at Tanglewood, Bramwell Tovey will lead the orchestra in a concert performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, with Alfred Walker and Marquita Lister performing the title roles, August 26. The final two program of the season welcome two preeminent artists back to the Tanglewood podium after a long absence. Itzhak Perlman returns as both conductor and soloist in an all-Beethoven concert on August 27, leading the orchestra in the First and Fifth Symphonies and performing the Romances Nos. 1 and 2 for violin and orchestra. Lorin Maazel will lead the traditional season-finale performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on August 28.
JAMES TAYLOR TO PERFORM FOUR CONCERTS AT TANGLEWOOD, JUNE 30-JULY 4
One of Tanglewood’s most popular artists, James Taylor will return this summer to perform four concerts, opening with a special program in the more intimate setting of Ozawa Hall, June 30, where he will perform a selection of songs that have made him one of the most beloved artists of our day. On July 1, Mr. Taylor makes a special appearance with the Boston Pops Orchestra. On July 3 and 4, Tanglewood presents The Essential James Taylor, featuring Mr. Taylor with his extraordinary band of musicians for two special performances. Fireworks will follow the July 4 concert. All proceeds from the July 4 concert will benefit Tanglewood.
In their first-ever Tanglewood appearance, the Grammy Award-winning band Train will perform songs from their latest release, Save Me, San Francisco, and more on August 8.
THE BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA, TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE, AND A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
Always a highlight of the Tanglewood season, the Boston Pops will be featured in two programs in addition to the July 1 concert with James Taylor. On July 17, Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops in a tribute to Cole Porter with two of Broadway’s most acclaimed stars, Kelli O’Hara and Jason Danieley. One of the season’s most popular traditions, the annual Film Night concert under the direction of John Williams, will feature Gil Shaham in a program of film music arranged for violin and orchestra, August 20. Mr. Williams’ nostalgic evocation of early 20th-century America, The Reivers, with a special guest narrator, will also be featured. Mr. Williams returns to the Shed stage to share the podium with James Levine andChristoph Eschenbach for Tanglewood on Parade, a day filled with musical activities, culminating in an evening concert with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras, followed by a fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl, August 2.
Garrison Keillor brings his A Prairie Home Companion to Tanglewood on July 2, marking another favorite Tanglewood tradition.
OZAWA HALL HIGHLIGHTS
The Mark Morris Dance Group and Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center will open the 2011 Tanglewood season with an Ozawa Hall program featuring the world premiere of a new work choreographed by Mark Morris to Stravinsky’s Renard, June 28 and 29. In his first of four Tanglwood appearances this season, Yo-Yo Ma joins the program to perform Bach’s Suite No. 3 in C for solo cello, as the Mark Morris Dance Group performs one of their most popular works, Falling Down Stairs. On July 7, composer and virtuoso violinist Mark O’Connor performs an eclectic selection of his own music with the Mark O’Connor String Quartet, to include solos, duets, quartets, and excerpts from the acclaimed Appalachia Waltz Trio. A performance of Handel’s Orlando will introduce several new artists to the Tanglewood audience, including conductor Nicholas McGegan and singers Susanna Rydén (Dorinda),Diana Moore (Medora), Clint van der Linde (Orlando), and Wolf Matthias Friedrich(Zoroastro), as well as a BSO favorite, Dominique Labelle (Angelica), August 16. Contemporary jazz pianist Brad Mehldau brings Tanglewood his unique vision, which has been described as embodying the essence of jazz exploration, classical romanticism, and pop allure, August 25. Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli andJessica Molaskey returns to Ozawa Hall on August 21 for a special taping of the show.
Arguably the greatest living interpreter of French piano repertoire, Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform Ravel’s complete works for piano over two evenings, July 20 and 21. Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Anthony McGill perform Brahms’ Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello, and piano, followed by a performance of Beethoven’s Sonata No, 3 in A for cello and piano with Mr. Ax and Mr. Ma, two of Tanglewood’s most beloved artists, August 14. Stephanie Blythe and Friendswill feature the acclaimed singer with pianist Alan Smith, violinist Andrew Jennings, cellist Norman Fischer, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, for a program that will include the world premiere of Mr. Smith’s BSO-commissioned An Unknown Sphere, for mezzo-soprano and chorus, on a program with Mr. Smith’s Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman, for mezzo-soprano, violin, cello, and piano, plus a selection of early American popular songs and choruses, August 10.
Two Ozawa Hall favorites, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the Emerson String Quartet are also among the highlights of the 2011 season. The Boston Symphony Chamber Players will be joined by guest pianist André Previn for a program of Martinů, Milhaud, Mozart, and Mr. Previn’s own Octet for Eleven, for winds, brass, and strings, on August 9. The Emerson String Quartet returns to Tanglewood for a program of the final quartets by Haydn, Bartók, and Schubert on July 12.
26 GUEST ARTISTS MAKE THEIR BSO AND/OR TANGLEWOOD DEBUTS
The 2011 Tanglewood season will see an unprecedented number of artists making their BSO and/or Tanglewood debuts. Among the 26 artists making their debut are conductors Lionel Bringuier (music of Smetana, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 with Emanuel Ax, 8/7), Jaap van Zweden (music of Stucky and Beethoven, 7/23), Pablo Heras-Casado (an all-Baroque program featuring Susan Graham in arias by Handel and Gluck, 7/22), and Bramwell Tovey (concert performance of Porgy and Bess, 8/26), as well as newly appointed BSO Assistant Conductor Sean Newhouse (music of Jalbert, Rachmaninoff, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Sarah Chang, 8/6).
Sopranos Angela Meade (Opening Night, 7/8) and Marquita Lister (Bess, Porgy and Bess, 8/26); mezzo-soprano Margaret Gawrysiak (Beethoven 9, 8/28); and tenorJoseph Calleja (Opening Night, 7/8; 7/9); along with pianists Benedetto Lupo(Mozart Piano Concerto No. 18, 8/21) and Martin Helmchen (Schumann Piano Concerto, 8/19) will also make their BSO debuts during the 2011 Tanglewood season.
Artists and ensembles making their Tanglewood debuts in Ozawa Hall this summer include the Mark O’Connor String Quartet (7/7), clarinetist Anthony McGill(joining Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax for the Brahms Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello, and piano, 8/14), and pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar (joining violinist Nikolaj Znaider in a recital of music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Franck, 7/14). The performance of Handel’s Orlando, 8/16, will mark the Tanglewood debut of thePhilharmonia Baroque Orchestra and several of the participating guest artists, including Nicholas McGegan (conductor), Clint van der Linde (Orlando), Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Zoroastro), Diana Moore (Medoro), and Susanne Rydén(Dorinda). A popular BSO guest artist, soprano Dominique Labelle, will join this cast of Tanglewood newcomers to perform the role of Angelica.
Artists who have appeared with the BSO in Boston at Symphony Hall but are making their Tanglewood debuts with the orchestra this summer include conductor Bernard Labadie (all-Mozart program, 8/21); guitarist Pepe Romero (music of Rodrigo, 8/12), violinist Nikolaj Znaider (Sibelius Violin Concerto, 7/16), pianist Yuja Wang(Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 8/5), and bass-baritone Eric Owens (Beethoven Symphony No. 9, 8/28).
2011 TANGLEWOOD JAZZ FESTIVAL, SEPTEMBER 2-4
With a wide variety of decorated performers, ranging from up-and-coming artists to some of the elder statesmen of the musical form, the Tanglewood Jazz Fest will return to its full three-day format in the summer of 2011. Between Friday, September 2 and Sunday, September 4 the performers will include five-time Grammy-nominated percussionist John Santos, who will headline with a Latin Jazz Tribute to Cachao, the Father of Mambo.
Grammy nominated pianist Judy Carmichael will also grace the stage of Ozawa Hall with a live taping of her widely broadcast NPR program “Jazz Inspired.” Gunter Schuller and Jimmy Cobb, both NEA Jazz Masters, will perform as well, with Schuller conducting the great Mingus Orchestra, one of a handful of groups ordained to carry on the legacy of jazz king Charles Mingus. Grammy award-winning Angelique Kidjo, of Benin, West Africa, four-time Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, and genre-defying gospel artist Lizz Wright, will close the festival with a performance called “Sing the Truth: Celebrating the History of Women Vocalists at Tanglewood”.
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TANGLEWOOD, THE BSO’S SUMMER HOME SINCE 1937
One of the most popular and acclaimed music festivals in the world, Tanglewood—the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home since 1937—is located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA. With an average annual attendance of more than 300,000 visitors each season, Tanglewood presents orchestra concerts by the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and visiting ensembles, featuring many of the greatest classical musicians of our time; recital and chamber music concerts in the intimate setting of Ozawa Hall; programs highlighting the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center; performances by some of today’s leading popular artists; and a season-ending Labor Day Weekend Jazz Festival.
Tanglewood is family-friendly, with free lawn tickets available for children and young people age 17 and under, a 50% discount on Friday-evening lawn tickets for college and graduate students, and a variety of special programs for children, including Kids Corner, Watch and Play, and the annual Family Concert, this year to take place Saturday, August 20. Tanglewood is also the home of the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s preeminent summer music academy for the advance training of young professional musicians, and Days in the Arts, a multi-cultural arts-immersion program that gives 400 fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders from communities across Massachusetts the opportunity to explore the arts throughout each week-long session of the summer.
These are just two of the BSO’s many educational and outreach activities, for which more information is available atwww.bso.org—the largest and most visited orchestral website in the country, receiving more than 7.3 million visitors annually and generating over $60 million in revenue since its launch in 1996. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is online atwww.bso.org. Music lovers can follow the BSO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bostonsymphony or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bostonsymphony.
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER & FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA CONCERTS, JULY 5-AUGUST 14
The Tanglewood Music Center is the BSO’s summer music academy, considered one of the world’s preeminent training grounds for young professional musicians, founded in 1940 by Serge Koussevitzky, BSO Music Director from 1924-1949.
The centerpiece of the 2011 Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra season will be a performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélissande, under the direction of James Levine, on July 25 with Bass-baritone José van Dam as Golaud. Some of the TMC’s most gifted vocal alumni, including bass-baritone Evan Hughes as Arkel and baritone Elliot Madore as Pelléas, fill out the rest of the cast for the Debussy work. Tanglewood Music Center vocalists will also participate in an evening of three short operas by Milhaud, under the stage direction of Mark Morris, on July 10. For the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on August 14 in the Shed, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos will lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in an all-Brahms concert, featuring Stephanie Blythe in the Alto Rhapsody, on a program with the composer’s Symphony No. 2.
The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra season will open on July 5 with a concert led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, with subsequent performances being led by Stefan Asbury, July 11 and Kurt Masur, July 17. Fellows from the TMC Conducting Program will also conduct works on these programs. All Tanglewood Music Center performances take place in Ozawa Hall unless otherwise noted.
2011 FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, AUGUST 3-7
The 2011 Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM), to take place over six programs presented August 3-7, will be directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Charles Wuorinen. The Festival will include two world premiere performances: Mr. Wuorinen’s It Happens Like This, a dramatic, semi-staged 35-minute cantata for four singers and 12 instrumentalists, set to six selections from James Tate’s Return to the City of White Donkeys (2004), will open the festival on August 3, and will be conducted by James Levine; John Zorn’s À Rebours, a title taken from the Huysmans book of the same name, performed by fellows of the TMC with guest soloist Fred Sherry and guest conductor and former Fellow Brad Lubman, will be performed on august 4; guest ensemble SIGNAL will also perform works by Ferneyhough and Picker on that program. This year’s Festival will highlight the work of Japanese composer Jo Kondo and introduce Tanglewood audiences for the first time to works by the American composer George Flynn and Brazilian composerFelipe Lara, among others.
The 2011 FCM programs will encompass a mix of early-, mid-, and late-career composers, and 16 of the 20 featured composers are American, including Milton Babbitt (August 7), Eve Beglarian (August 5), John Chowning (August 4), Jonathan Dawe (August 7), Jason Eckardt (August 4), David Felder (August 7), Richard Festinger (August 5), George Flynn (August 6), Lee Hyla (August 5), Andrew Norman (August 7), Wayne Peterson (August 5), and Tobias Picker (August 4). Works by British composer Brian Ferneyhough (August 4) and Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen (August 5) will also be included. In addition, several FCM programs will feature the composers as performers in their own works, including American composers David Fulmer, who will be the soloist in his own violin concerto (August 7), and Louis Karchin, who will conduct his Chamber Symphony (August 7). Except where otherwise noted, most Festival of Contemporary Music programs are performed by the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center.
