Tanglewood Aug. 12-16 (Week 6) – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Returns with Pepe Romero

(Seen above: conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12 – MAESTRO FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS AND PEPE ROMERO JOIN THE BSO IN SPANISH PROGRAM

Maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos returns for the second week in a row to lead the BSO in an August 12 program dedicated to Spanish and Spanish-inspired music, repertoire championed by Mr. Frühbeck throughout his career.

World-renowned guitar virtuoso and fellow Spaniard Pepe Romero makes his Tanglewood debut in this concert, highlights of which include Preludes from Bizet’s Seville-set opera Carmen; Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, surely the best-known work for guitar and orchestra; and the Interlude and First Dance from Falla’s La vida breve (Life is Short), an opera about the doomed love of a gypsy woman for an upper-class man.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 – BSO WELCOMES CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI AND YO-YO MA

Two of classical music’s most decorated artists join the BSO August 13 as the inimitable cellist Yo-Yo Ma performs as soloist and German-Hungarian conductor Christoph von Dohnányi leads the orchestra. Opening the program is Prokofiev’s effervescent Symphony No. 1, Classical.

Mr. Ma takes the lead in Schumann’s free-flowing and adventurous Cello Concerto, and the evening concludes with Brahms’s monumental Symphony No. 1, with which the composer finally took up the imposing symphonic mantel of Beethoven.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – STEPHANIE BLYTHE JOINS THE TMCO IN THE SHED FOR THE LEONARD BERNSTEIN MEMORIAL CONCERT
On Sunday afternoon, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra pays homage to Brahms with a concert dedicated entirely to his music, includingNänie, a work for chorus and orchestra that sets a poem by Schiller contemplating mortality; Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), something of a miniature counterpart to the German Requiem; the Alto Rhapsody¸ a piece for mezzo-soprano, male chorus, and orchestra written as a wedding gift for Schumann’s daughter; and the great Symphony No. 2.

The young orchestra is conducted by Mr. Frühbeck and joined by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blytheand the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 – EMANUEL AX, YO-YO MA, AND ANTHONY MCGILL

Sunday evening, Mr. Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax renew their longstanding and widely celebrated musical partnership with an Ozawa Hall recital to include music from three of the all-time masters of chamber music: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 3 in A for cello and piano, Op. 69, Brahms’s Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello, and piano, Op. 114, and Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821, arranged for clarinet and piano.

Mr. Ma and Mr. Ax are joined by the principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera, Anthony McGill, who makes his Tanglewood debut.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 – THE PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA PERFORMS HANDEL’S ORLANDO
August 16 marks one of the highlights of the 2011 Tanglewood season as the California-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra makes its Tanglewood debut in dramatic fashion with a complete performance of Handel’s opera seriaOrlando under Music Director Nicholas McGegan. Inhabiting the roles of this Baroque masterpiece, which tells the story of a great soldier in Charlemagne’s army who falls in love with an infidel, are soprano Dominique Labelle, soprano Yulia van Doren (Tanglewood debut), mezzo-soprano Diana Moore(Tanglewood debut), countertenor Clint van der Linde (Tanglewood debut), and baritone Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Tanglewood debut).

“THIS WEEK AT TANGLEWOOD” PRE-CONCERT FRIDAY-EVENING DISCUSSIONS

“This Week at Tanglewood” is a free 30-minute Friday-evening panel discussion series, beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Shed prior to each Friday evening’s BSO performance. Hosted by Martin Bookspan, former host of “Live from Lincoln Center,” “This Week at Tanglewood” features informal discussions with special guests and visiting artists, and offers an overview of the coming week’s schedule, including everything from BSO performances to Tanglewood Music Center concerts to children’s programming. On Friday, August 12, Mr. Bookspan will speak with Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera, who makes his Tanglewood debut on August 14 in a performance in Ozawa Hall with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax.
                
FREE PRELUDE CONCERTS BY MEMBERS OF THE BSO AND FELLOWS OF THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s free Prelude Concerts in Ozawa Hall take place at 6 p.m., before each Friday- and Saturday-evening Shed concert. The prelude concert on August 12 will include Dahl’sConcerto a tre for violin, cello, and clarinet and Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81, featuring Haldan Martinson and Julianne Lee, violins; Rebecca Gitter, viola; Mickey Katz, cello; Michael Wayne, clarinet; and Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano. On Saturday, August 6, Tanglewood Music Center Fellows present a 6 p.m. prelude concert including music by Beethoven and Schumann. The Friday- and Saturday-evening Prelude Concerts are open to all ticket holders for the evening’s Shed concert.

LOOKING AHEAD…

Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi once again leads the BSO August 19 in a program focusing on core composers of the Austro-German tradition. Anchoring the concert is Beethoven’s revolutionary Symphony No. 3, Eroica, a piece that never seems to age no matter how much it is performed. PianistMartin Helmchen makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts as soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto, and the program opens with Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1. One of the season’s most enduring and popular traditions, the annual Film Night concert August 20 celebrates the music of the movies. This summer, John Williams and the Boston Pops are joined by frequent collaborator Gil Shaham in a program featuring film music arranged for violin and orchestra. Also on the program will be Mr. Williams’s nostalgic evocation of early 20th-century America, The Reivers, with special guest Morgan Freeman as narrator. Bernard Labadie, renowned Music Director of the Canadian Baroque and Classical specialist orchestra Les Violons du Roy, makes his Tanglewood debut August 21 as he brings his expertise to the BSO in an all-Mozart program including the Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, the Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat, K. 456, and the Chaconne from Idomeneo. PianistBenedetto Lupo makes his BSO and Tanglewood debuts as soloist for the concerto. On August 25, one of today’s most accomplished genre-bending artists takes the Ozawa Hall stage for a solo recital. A lyrical and intimate voice of contemporary jazz piano, Brad Mehldau has forged a unique path that embodies the essence of jazz exploration, classical romanticism, and pop allure. As a bandleader and in diverse collaborations with artists such as Pat Metheny, Renée Fleming, and Joshua Redman, Mr. Mehldau continues to garner numerous awards and admiration from both jazz purists and open-eared musical omnivores.

TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF

The 2011 Tanglewood music festival, now in its 74th year as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, opens on Saturday, June 25, with a performance by Earth, Wind, & Fire, 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, visitwww.tanglewood.org. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org,and through SymphonyCharge 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. 

Tanglewood, located in the Berkshire Hills between Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, offers a wide variety of orchestral, chamber music, recital, jazz, and popular artists concerts featured throughout the  season. The Boston Symphony performs in the Koussevitzky Music Shed most Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in July and August, regularly presenting many of the great conductors and soloists of our time. Tanglewood also features performances by Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony’s prestigious summer music academy for the advanced training of musicians. For more information, please visit www.tanglewood.org.