Tanglewood is for families too.

Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is offering a number of family-friendly ticket programs, concerts, and activities throughout its 2011 season, June 25-September 4. These offerings include free lawn tickets for all children and young adults under 17; a 50% discount on Friday-evening concert tickets for students 18 and older; Watch and Play and Kids’ Corner, children’s activities that take place in conjunction with weekend concerts; and the Family Concert with Classical Tangent on August 20. Tanglewood on Parade takes place on August 2 this year, offering a full day of musical activities for the entire family, culminating in an 8:30 p.m. concert in the Shed featuring the BSO, Boston Pops, and TMC Orchestra, followed by fireworks. Detailed information about these programs is available at www.tanglewood.org.

Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home since 1937, is located in the Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA. The 2011 Tanglewood season opens June 25 with Earth, Wind, and Fire and closes with the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival, September 2-4. The Boston Symphony will celebrate Tanglewood ‘s 75th anniversary season in 2012.

THE SCOOP ON FREE AND DISCOUNTED TICKETS

Tanglewood Welcomes Families

First there is the program that provides free Lawn Tickets for Children and Young People 17 and Younger. Tanglewood’s Children’s Lawn Ticket Program provides free lawn seating to children and young adults aged 17 and under. All concert attendees, with the exception of young children under age three, need to have a ticket. Up to four free children’s tickets are available per parent/legal guardian per concert at the Tanglewood Box Office the day of the concert. The 2011 Tanglewood free lawn ticket program is supported by a generous gift from the Samuel Rapaporte, Jr. Family Foundation.

Then there are the regular Student Discounts for students 18 and over. For them, Tanglewood offers 50% discounts on lawn tickets for Friday-evening BSO concerts. Students can obtain a lawn ticket by presenting a valid student ID at the Tanglewood Box Office on the night of the performance.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY CONCERTS

The Annual Family Concert, August 20

On August 20, 2011, Tanglewood will present its annual Family Concert featuring returning artists Classical Tangent. Tickets for the Family Concert are free for children aged 17 and under and $10 for each adult and can be purchased at the Tanglewood Box Office, online at www.tanglewood.org, or through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200.

Tanglewood On Parade, August 2

Tanglewood on Parade is one of the most popular family outings.

On Tuesday, August 2, 2011, the BSO presents Tanglewood on Parade, a full day of musical activities for the entire family, culminating in an 8:30 p.m. concert in the Shed featuring the BSO, Boston Pops, and TMC Orchestra. Fireworks will follow the concert.

As part of the Tanglewood on Parade activities on August 2, special guest Dr. Donald Lubowich, from Hofstra University’s Astronomy Outreach Program, will offer star-gazing for adults and children with telescope observations of the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Neptune, star clusters, and nebulae. There will also be exhibits on the science of music, the sounds of the Sun, and Galileo and his telescope

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

Watch and Play – Sundays – July 17 & 31, August 7 & 21 at 1 p.m.

Watch and Play is an educational program designed to engage children in the day’s musical program with lively discussions about instruments, concert themes, and musical concepts. The interactive program is offered at 1 p.m. in the Chamber Music Hall on July 17, July 31, August 7, and August 21. Tickets to the concert performance are required. Watch and Play is sponsored by the Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers in collaboration with the BSO Education and Community Programs department.

Kids’ Corner on Saturday Mornings and Sunday Afternoons

Kids’ Corner is offered at noon on Sundays before the afternoon concerts, and during the Open Rehearsals at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings. On days with Watch and Play (July 17, July 31, August 7, and August 21), Kids’ Corner will begin at 2 p.m. Children accompanied by adults may take part in musical and crafts activities supervised by BSO staff. Interested families should check in at the Tanglewood Visitors Center. (Tickets to the Sunday concert or Saturday Open Rehearsal are required.)

Blackout dates for all ticket deals include Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor (July 2), James Taylor (June 30, July 1, 3, and 4), Earth, Wind, and Fire (June 25), Steely Dan (July 26), Train (August 8), the Tanglewood Jazz Festival (September 2-4), and any other Popular Artist event. For all Popular Artist concerts, free lawn tickets are only available for children younger than 2.

QUICK REVIEW OF TANGLEWOOD 2011 HIGHLIGHTS

From an all-Italian Opening Night Boston Symphony Orchestra program under the direction of Charles Dutoit 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.

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’s Orlando, 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 Music program 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. Further season details are available at www.tanglewood.org.

2011 TANGLEWOOD SEASON TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the 2011 Tanglewood season are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. Regular season ticket prices range from $9-$102. Tickets for Saturday Morning Rehearsals are $10-$30. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee.

Tickets are also available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at Tanglewood’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of June 17. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, personal checks, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.bso.org.