Ed. Note: Discount tickets! Planning a Tanglewod visit for this week? Please note that there are half priced tickets available in the shed for the Sunday 2:30 PM concert, but you must use this link to access them: Click me

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 – JOHN WILLIAMS’S 80TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Tanglewood is proud to have the honor of presenting the only official celebration of John Williams’s 80th birthday attended by the composer himself, with a gala tribute concert on August 18 that will feature performances by stars of the music world, along with surprise stage appearances and video messages from luminaries from the world of arts and culture.  A host of major musical guests—including conductors Keith Lockhart, Leonard Slatkin, and Shi-Yeon Sung; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; soprano Jessye Norman; violinist Gil Shaham; clarinetist Anthony McGill; pianist Gabriela Montero; and the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets —  join the Boston Pops Orchestra in a spectacular evening of some of Mr. Williams’s most popular works for film and the concert stage. Maestro Williams and the audience will hear beloved themes from his film scores to E.T., Harry Potter, and Star Wars, as well as his Air and Simple Gifts, a work for clarinet, cello, and piano, originally composed for the inauguration ceremony for President Barack Obama.  The program will also spotlight several members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including assistant principal oboist (principal oboe of the Boston Pops) Keisuke Wakao, principal horn James Sommerville, and principal tuba Mike Roylance, in selections from works John Williams has composed for soloist and orchestra.

“There is no better way to celebrate the Tanglewood 75th anniversary season than by honoring one of the festival’s most beloved musical figures on the occasion of his 80th birthday,” said Mark Volpe, Boston Symphony Orchestra Managing Director. “John Williams, whose singular career writing music for films has made him the best-known composer of our time, has graced the stage of Symphony Hall and Tanglewood with his inimitable programming and presence since 1980. It is truly beyond words to express fully the gratitude we feel for John’s extraordinary contribution to the Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and the Boston Symphony. We eagerly anticipate more of John’s latest film themes and new orchestra works, and welcoming him back again and again to the Tanglewood podium. But today, most of all, we wish him the happiest of birthday celebrations.”

John Williams, who holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor (he was Boston Pops Conductor from 1980-1993) and Tanglewood Artist in Residence, has enjoyed a 32-year relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, parent organization of the Boston Pops and Tanglewood.  Last summer, as a sign of his great affection for Tanglewood, Mr. Williams commissioned New England-based artist Penelope Jencks to create a sculpture of Aaron Copland that is now displayed in the formal gardens on the Tanglewood grounds.  Mr. Williams, who was born on February 8, 1932, is arguably the most well-known composer of his generation with many of the most memorable film scores of the 20th and 21st centuries to his credit. Mr. Williams has received five Academy Awards and a total of forty-seven Oscar nominations, making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person. He also has received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), twenty-one Grammys, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. For further information about John Williams, click here.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 – BRAMWELL TOVEY LEADS BSO IN BEETHOVEN, BARBER, AND COPLAND
English conductor Bramwell Tovey, who made a memorable Tanglewood debut in 2011 leading an acclaimed concert performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, returns to the Berkshires Friday, August 17, at 8:30 p.m. to conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and two favorites by American composers. At the heart of the program, German soloist Augustin Hadelich takes the lead in Barber’s tuneful Violin Concerto, with its two deeply felt, lyrical opening movements and virtuosic, spitfire finale. The concert opens with Copland’s iconic Suite from Appalachian Spring, the composer’s beloved ballet depicting a 19th-century American pioneers’ springtime celebration, heavily influenced by folk music and including Copland’s famous incorporation of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.”

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 – THE LEONARD BERNSTEIN MEMORIAL CONCERT
For The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on Sunday, August 19, at 2:30 p.m. in the Shed, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and collaborates with soloist Gil Shaham—whose Tanglewood history dates back almost two decades—in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. The Concerto for Orchestra, a tremendously inventive and demanding piece that requires virtuosity from every section of the ensemble, was commissioned in 1943 by Serge Koussevitzky and given its world premiere by the BSO the following year.

PERFORMANCE IN OZAWA HALL ON AUGUST 20 AND 22
MONDAY, AUGUST 20 – WYNTON MARSALIS QUINTET AND CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE TRIO
On Monday, August 20, at 8 p.m., two jazz ensembles team up as the Wynton Marsalis Quintet and the Christian McBride Trio, joined by Christian Sands and Ulysses Owen, Jr., take the Ozawa Hall stage. Trumpeter, composer, and nine time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis is co-founder and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and one of the most decorated jazz musicians of our time. Bassist Christian McBride has appeared on more than 300 albums as a sideman, including sessions with nearly every leading jazz musician currently performing, and released his 10th recording as leader in 2011.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22 – BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS
The collective virtuosity of the BSO’s principal players is once again on display Wednesday, August 22, at 8 p.m., as the Boston Symphony Chamber Players—one of the world’s most distinguished chamber ensembles sponsored by a major symphony orchestra—take the Ozawa Hall stage for a wide-ranging program including Lukas Foss’s For Aaron; Bach’s Cantata No. 209, Non sa che sia dolore (with soprano Karina Gauvin); Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2, for wind quintet; and Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat, K.289. As a tribute to Serge Koussevitzky, BSO principal double bass player Edwin Barker  performs Bruch’s Kol nidrei in a transcription for bass and piano—just as Koussevitzky himself played in recital in the late 1930s.

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-evening Shed concert. The special John Williams prelude concert on Friday, August 17 will feature BSO members Wendy Putnam and Victor Romanul, violin; Michael Zaretsky, viola, Martha Babcock and Mickey Katz, cello; Thomas Martin, clarinet; and Jessica Zhou, harp, along with pianist Vytas Baksys.  The prelude will include performances of Williams’s Elegy for cello and piano, Quartet La Jolla for violin, cello, clarinet, and harp, and Duo Concertante for violin and viola. On Saturday, August 16, Tanglewood Music Center Fellows present a 6 p.m. prelude concert of music of Debussy, Stevens, and Williams. The Friday- and Saturday-evening Prelude Concerts are open to all ticket holders for the evening’s Shed concert.

TICKET INFORMATION IN BRIEF
Tanglewood, this year celebrating its 75th anniversary as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, opened on Friday, June 22, with the return of Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, and closes September 2, with a Boston Pops concert led by Thomas Wilkins and featuring the ever-popular Michael Feinstein. For detailed information about the 2012 Tanglewood season, including how to purchase tickets, priced from $9 to $117 for regular season concerts, visit www.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 CONCERT LISTING, AUGUST 17-22
All programs and artists are subject to change
*connotes Tanglewood debut
**connotes BSO and Tanglewood debut

Friday, August 17, 6 p.m. Ozawa Hall
Prelude Concert
Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Friday, August 17, 7:15 p.m. Shed
This Week at Tanglewood
Panel discussion with moderator Martin Bookspan and guest artists

Friday, August 17, 8:30 p.m. Shed
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin**
COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring
BARBER Violin Concerto
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

Saturday, August 18, 9:30 a.m. Shed
Pre-Rehearsal Talk

Saturday, August 18, 10:30 a.m. Shed
Rehearsal, Saturday program

Saturday, August 18, 8:30 p.m. Shed
John Williams’ 80th Birthday Celebration
Boston Pops Orchestra
Keith Lockhart, Leonard Slatkin, and
Shi-Yeon Sung, conductors
with
Jessye Norman, soprano
Gil Shaham, violin
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Gabriela Montero, piano*
Anthony McGill, clarinet
U.S. Army Herald Trumpets
Mike Roylance, tuba; James Sommerville, horn;
Keisuke Wakao, oboe, BSO soloists
Surprise guests
WILLIAMS Olympic Fanfare and Theme
RODGERS & HART “With a Song in My Heart”
WILLIAMS Three Concert Pieces
Concerto for Oboe, 3rd movement: Commedia
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, 5th movement: Nocturne
Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra: 3rd movement
WILLIAMS Adventures on Earth from E.T. The Extra-terrestrial
WILLIAMS Sound the Bells!
WILLIAMS Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
TRAD., WILLIAMS Air and Simple Gifts
WILLIAMS Going to School from Memoirs of a Geisha
WILLIAMS Theme from Schindler’s List
WILLIAMS Main Title from Star Wars
WILLIAMS Happy Birthday Variations

Sunday, August 19, 2:30 p.m. Shed
The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

Monday, August 20, 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall
Wynton Marsalis Quintet
Christian McBride Trio
with Christian Sands & and Ulysses Owens, Jr.

Wednesday, August 22, 8 p.m. Ozawa Hall
Boston Symphony Chamber Players
Karina Gauvin, soprano*
FOSS For Aaron
J.S. BACH Cantata No. 209, Non sa che sia dolore
HINDEMITH Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2, for wind quintet
BRUCH Kol nidrei, Op. 47, for double bass and piano
MOZART Divertimento in E-flat, K.289